Th 1986 accident to the BV 234 off Sumburgh was not the end of the aircraft for North Sea Ops. Helikopter Service continued to use the aircraft for Philips Norway for a few years after the UK sector accident. I think that the 234 was eventually replaced by Super Pumas from Norsk(Bristow).
Whilst from outside the industry, the 234 looked like an excellent offshore helicopter, many used to divert into Sumburgh with problems when flying between Aberdeen and the Brent/Magnus fields, so much so that British Airways Helicopters had a full 234 maintenance base there.
With the trend towards smaller platforms and lees people offshore, the idea of moving such large numbers of poeple in one aircraft is now commercially obselete. The oil company safety cases have gone back to the idea of moving people as far as possible by Fixed Wing and reducing the numbers of people in and the distances flown by helicopters.
The S92 is going to find it hard going in the market although it looks like an excellent aircraft. The Super Puma still survives although with the exception of Norsk, everybody is flying old machines on the North Sea with low values and cheap prices. The market penetration of the 332L2 has been almost nil with the exception of Norsk and Helikopter Service (CHC)
LE