AN OIL services company says a £32 million investment in the central belt will preserve manufacturing jobs in Scotland and help it continue to access increasingly important international markets.

Oil States (UK) has announced plans to create up to 100 posts at a state-of-the-art plant being built in West Lothian.

However, the business - a subsidiary of New York Stock Exchange listed Oil States International - is taking a similar number of roles out of its Aberdeen base to concentrate manufacturing operations at the Heartlands business park adjacent to Whitburn.

Around 80 people will relocate from the eight-acre plant Oil States (UK) has run in Bathgate since 1984 with a small number also moving from a research and development facility in Livingston.

The move to Heartlands sees Oil States (UK) taking on a 27-acre site which will be involved in making and repairing various types of connectors, valves, well control equipment and joints for the oil and gas industry. There will also be a larger research and development centre looking at ways to develop new products for the sector.

Neville Gall, area human resources director, said: "We are giving people in Aberdeen the option to relocate but are also keen to recruit locals [in the central belt] as well."

Oil States, which will retain its UK headquarters in Aberdeen, said it is recruiting in a number of areas, including in its welding, machining and yard operations, and is looking to take on laboratory technicians and materials co-ordinators.

It cited access to a wider talent pool in the central belt than it would have had in Aberdeen as one of the major reasons for investing there. Mr Gall said: "There is a bigger pool of labour in the central belt. Aberdeen is pretty well saturated with unemployment less than two per cent and [pay] rates ever increasing."

Many oil companies have cited the growing cost and competition for labour in Aberdeen as potential difficulties. The high price of land and the development costs in Aberdeen were other factors in the decision by Oil States (UK).

Mr Gall said the company was also conscious that the North Sea market is becoming less important to it with the majority of its products being deployed in areas including Russia, the Gulf of Mexico, west of Africa and the Far East. He said: "The North Sea is diminishing, about 10 per cent of our business, so it is really the global market. So to have the Clyde and Leith gives us access to dispatch goods worldwide."

According to Mr Gall newly-designed products from the research and development team could be manufactured at Heartlands, which had not been done previously in Aberdeen. Mr Gall said: "We have expectations of further growth over the longer term."

Oil States (UK) hopes to have most of the new staff in place at Heartlands by the end of March next year. It was the first major tenant to sign up at Heartlands, on the former Polkemmet Colliery site, which is located just off the M8 motorway.

Taylor Wimpey has completed the first homes at the development with Bellway also helping to build an expected total of 2,000 houses. Preparation work for two potential new golf courses has started while supermarkets, education and leisure facilities are also part of the masterplan.

The remediation of the site has been led by Ecosse Regeneration.