Originally Posted by
The Witret
Well my friend from my own experience I simply can’t agree wholly with you. You do make some valid points, however to suggest that all management in the 4 operators have been and are incompetent buffoons is quite simply not true. Don’t get me wrong I have worked with some undeniably questionable people in my time, but to a certain extent those behaviours were born from a sickening pressure from the oil & gas operators and yes, corporate leads higher up the chain in London, Vancouver and Dallas. That is also undeniably true. My own experience is that of trauma, regret, anger and sadness. I genuinely feel sorry for some people on here who say horrible sweeping generalisations and perhaps forget that not every manager is a complete incompetent hapless fool who doesn’t care. The truth probably does not exist because these forums are never wrong and people like me never speak up because they know they will be shot down as a non entity. I’ve had my fill of this industry. It’s murders good will and generates behaviours which are monstrous. I feel sorry for Babcock Oil & Gas staff who only wanted a future and now for many there is none as CHC will never accept the existing structures due to unprecedented cost cutting across business. I personally think the worst is yet to come, an inevitable negative event that will change everything. Good luck to you, im well and truly done with it all. Last post.
I would totally agree with many of your comments, particularly regarding the positive competencies of various managers within these Organizations. At the operational level, there are in fact a large number of excellent, skilled, capable and respected managers still remaining, but their numbers are dwindling through attrition, age and simply a desire to do something different. Many of these individuals have left their Organizations and taken their skills and knowledge to other operators, who in turn are preparing to challenge the status of the major operators of today. Again, the market will determine how this develops, but there is a serious likelihood that smaller, specialized, regional operators are going to inflict serious pain on the large operators, because they can offer competing levels of service (they established and maintained these standards at their previous employers), at significantly lower prices, due to the removal of a bloated corporate overhead that contributes no value to the Customer. The major operators are then left with the dilemma of starving to death or buying the competition in order to stay in business - exactly what happened with Babcock. My comments are more generally directed way up the food chain, any part of which can be read about extensively here or on Google.
The issue isn't specific to the helicopter business, it is the impact for every player in every facet of the offshore O&G industry, as it undergoes a forced evolution due to a baseline commodity repricing and a major change in market dynamics - the oil market pricing is now Customer, as opposed to Cartel, driven. If you are unable to evolve, you will simply disappear within a very short period of time. Change drives more change, and the market will simply evolve with or without you, so you had better be ready to adapt and radically alter your business model or simply shrink into irrelevance and non-existence, although unfortunately it may be a bit more dramatic than that! Small, nimble, regional and financially efficient operators with sound operating and safety practices are going to change the landscape completely, and this is a market ripe for disruption. Every remaining competitor now has the same basic business model and requirements; Leased assets, PBH support, Personnel and facilities. Great mission configured aircraft are readily available inexpensively, PBH is a fixed cost that will increase predictably, high quality trained and experienced personnel are readily available (and even more are looking), support facilities are available. So it really comes down to how efficiently and effectively you can run and manage your business, and that is where the new players will enter, or potentially the end-users establish new business models. If you look around at some of the quality people that have left the major operators, you will see them involved in other aspects of operation, but the experience and expertise is never lost. They may become the new O&G operators of the future, or be hired by them. I tend to share your view, that there is more, much more, to come.
I wish you all the best in whatever direction life takes you, Witret, and really do understand your position. There are people affected here that may be on their third employer in as many years, and they never quit a single job, but may now be left without employment through no fault or decision of their own. Very sad situation.