Originally Posted by
212man
good point about Aramco, but I guess he knew about Esso (XOM) which is what prompted the question.
There would easily be a million+ flight hours combined between those two helicopter owner/operator offshore oil companies....Esso Australia has never had a helicopter accident (touch wood!), Saudi Aramco has had one major fatal that I recall. That is a remarkable safety record when compared to the accident rate of the major offshore helicopter contractors. I'm not sure what conclusions can be drawn about that, but the statistics might suggest oil companies owning/operating their own helicopters has certain business advantages.