Rig workers facing delays as helicopters grounded

Transport Correspondent

Saturday 27 October 2012

HUNDREDS of workers are facing delays of up to three days getting on and off North Sea oil and gas rigs after a number of Super Puma helicopters were grounded by aviation regulators.

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DAMIEN HENDERSON Transport Correspondent

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has ruled that the EC225 and some L2 models cannot fly over water after one of the aircraft ditched off Shetland on Monday with 19 people on board, all of whom were safety rescued.

Its ruling on Thursday was significantly tougher than an earlier directive issued by its European counterpart, EASA, which deemed the aircraft safe to fly if more regular maintenance checks were made.It has left the three helicopter operators – Bond, CHC and Bristow – struggling to transport the hundreds of oil and gas workers on and offshore. Bond has been left able to fly only two of its nine North Sea helicopters while CHC, the operator whose aircraft ditched on Monday, had 10 helicopters in operation yesterday, compared to 21 at the start of the week. Bristow could not be contacted last night.A spokesman for oil company BP, which has a workforce of around 700 people across 11 installations in the North Sea, said delays in getting flights were not unprecedented as high winds, snow and volcanic ash had all led to helicopters not being able to take off. "About one to three days is the typical delay. The challenge will come in a week or two if there is no prospect of a return to normal operations," he said. "In the meantime, we can defer some drilling schedules, defer non-essential maintenance and make sure the people we are transporting are the highest priority in terms of who needs to get onto the rigs and who needs to get off."One industry source said that there would be "enormous pressure" on Eurocopter, the helicopter manufacturer, to convince the CAA to allow flights to resume under controlled conditions.

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Rig workers facing delays as helicopters grounded

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