Any company (oil producer, helicopter operator or widget maker) can improve their profit margin and disposable cash two ways. Either push charges up or drive their costs down. If the first option is chosen, the company risks pricing itself out of the market. Oil companies will try and get as high a price as they can for their oil but they have to work within a world market which includes OPEC, non OPEC, western and eastern producers.
Alternatively, profit (and payrises) can be improved by doing things better and finding ways to cut costs. This is just as important as trying to get the best price for your product.
I have heard helicopter people say that the oil companies can afford to pay more and that the cost of helicopter transport is a "drop in the ocean" of the total cost of oil production. THIS IS NOT TRUE. Helicopter costs are a significant cost in the total budget for annual running costs of a platform, particularly the ones at great distance from their airport. With some of the more mature platforms, the cost of production rises and the economics of the platform can make it marginal. A 2% increase in cost can cause the field to have to be abandoned.
The North Sea has to compete for development funds against other world production areas and the North Sea is expensive. Labour costs are high and regulatory matters can make things difficult.
Oil companies WILL usually go for the cheapest quote for a contract. BUT this is AFTER the prospective service providers have gone through a strict pre-qualification process to ensure the final list of bidders have the technical expertise in both hardware, infrastructure and personnel matters as well as the financial backing to provide the level and safety of service required. Only then will cost be considered. We don't want our contractors to go out of business due to lack of finance but only YOUR managers can manage that. A successful company should NOT bid for a contract, which in the long term will not be financially rewarding for the Company. If it does, it deserves to go out of business. The clever company will be able to provide a higher level of service at a competative price because it has the lowest costs - and that doesn't mean it has to pay the lowest wages. Low costs require quality staff , best use of technology, being able to negotiate good supplier prices etc etc. Successful company's always try and differentiate themselves from their competition - they give themselves the commercial edge by being innovative. The two existing UK North Sea operators are almost indistinguishable. There don't seem to be any good ideas coming out of them.
Someone mentioned the Mk2 Puma in an earlier post. Yes it might carry a bit more weight but what does it do better than older helicopters. Does it allow you to fly to lower weather minimums? I am told not. Is that because it is not technically possible or because no one has thought of it? We have autoland in fixed wing now. I'm not suggesting that the Mk 2 should be capable of it but is anyone thinking about it? Is anyone thinking "out of the box" on other subjects? The companies which will still be here when the last oil is produced will be the ones which have thought "out of the box". Which helicopter company is thinking "out of the box" today?