CHC Scotia Limited has been awarded a three-year contract (plus two one-year options) with Apache North Sea Ltd. for the provision of offshore helicopter support services.
Utilizing Super Puma AS332L aircraft from its Aberdeen fleet, CHC will provide crew transportation services for the Forties offshore oil and gas fields in the Central North Sea.
The three-year contract commences August, 2003, and replaces a contract formerly held with BP, which had been due to expire in August, 2004.
BP sold Forties, Britain's first major oilfield, to American firm Apache as part of a $1.3 billion (£830m) deal in Jan 2003. In its heyday in 1979, the Forties oilfield off Aberdeen produced a quarter of the UK's oil demand, pumping 500,000 barrels a day. Since then, its output has trickled down to an average of 58,000 barrels a day.