Cyclic Hotline
23rd Jun 2001, 05:22
The Scotsman.
Cost-cutting squeezing oilfield safety, says report
Jeremy Cresswell Northern Business Editor
([email protected])
OIL companies have slashed contract rates to the point that North Sea helicopter companies can no longer recruit and retain the pilots they need to sustain effective, safe services, the British Airline Pilots Association warned yesterday.
In a stinging attack on UK offshore operators, BALPA claimed the main firms, Bristow and CHC Scotia in Aberdeen, now lacked the resources to pay salaries that competed with fixed wing airlines, or to invest in new aircraft.
The union alleged oil companies were damaging their own businesses because of their contracting policies where rates are sliced to the bone, while oil prices soar.
BALPA’s is the second attack on oil company practices this week. On Tuesday, the Royal Bank of Scotland warned that a growing lack of key hardware coupled with a chronic skills shortage and short-termism, was damaging the North Sea’s long-term future.
The pilot’s body wants the government to intervene and make oil companies switch to "sustainable" contracting to prevent irreparable damage being inflicted.
The Scotsman can disclose exclusively that, according to a new report by BALPA, the salary gap for senior pilots flying helicopters versus fixed wing aircraft has soared from 10-15 per cent traditionally to 53 per cent today (£36,856 versus £56,507). For junior grades, the difference is typically 30 per cent.
The report says the UK airline industry will require another 1,600-2,000 pilots by 2007 and that this sector traditionally takes a large number of helicopter pilots from the armed forces and North Sea.
But there are only 450 offshore pilots and about 40 per cent will retire within six years.
"As the pilot shortage bites, one scenario is a worsening lifestyle for the remaining pilots and crew, as they take up the slack .
"Another is widespread cancellation and disruption to the [oil and gas] exploration and production process as it becomes physically impossible to find enough pilots.
"One operator has taken the unprecedented step of transferring pilots from its English bases to Aberdeen to cover vacancies."
BALPA warns that helicopters are critical on safety grounds alone, let alone for commercial reasons, to the current drive to open up a host of mini-fields.
Dave Hogg, chairman of BALPA’s helicopter committee, told The Scotsman yesterday that if BP ever implemented proposals to switch mostly to helicopters instead of ships for offshore safety cover around its platforms, this alone would require at least 120 highly-trained pilots and aircrew.
Hogg, a pilot with CHC Scotia and a North Sea veteran added: "The purpose of this report is to give our employers something which they can lay in front of the oil companies to convince them of the seriousness of the problem."
Cost-cutting squeezing oilfield safety, says report
Jeremy Cresswell Northern Business Editor
([email protected])
OIL companies have slashed contract rates to the point that North Sea helicopter companies can no longer recruit and retain the pilots they need to sustain effective, safe services, the British Airline Pilots Association warned yesterday.
In a stinging attack on UK offshore operators, BALPA claimed the main firms, Bristow and CHC Scotia in Aberdeen, now lacked the resources to pay salaries that competed with fixed wing airlines, or to invest in new aircraft.
The union alleged oil companies were damaging their own businesses because of their contracting policies where rates are sliced to the bone, while oil prices soar.
BALPA’s is the second attack on oil company practices this week. On Tuesday, the Royal Bank of Scotland warned that a growing lack of key hardware coupled with a chronic skills shortage and short-termism, was damaging the North Sea’s long-term future.
The pilot’s body wants the government to intervene and make oil companies switch to "sustainable" contracting to prevent irreparable damage being inflicted.
The Scotsman can disclose exclusively that, according to a new report by BALPA, the salary gap for senior pilots flying helicopters versus fixed wing aircraft has soared from 10-15 per cent traditionally to 53 per cent today (£36,856 versus £56,507). For junior grades, the difference is typically 30 per cent.
The report says the UK airline industry will require another 1,600-2,000 pilots by 2007 and that this sector traditionally takes a large number of helicopter pilots from the armed forces and North Sea.
But there are only 450 offshore pilots and about 40 per cent will retire within six years.
"As the pilot shortage bites, one scenario is a worsening lifestyle for the remaining pilots and crew, as they take up the slack .
"Another is widespread cancellation and disruption to the [oil and gas] exploration and production process as it becomes physically impossible to find enough pilots.
"One operator has taken the unprecedented step of transferring pilots from its English bases to Aberdeen to cover vacancies."
BALPA warns that helicopters are critical on safety grounds alone, let alone for commercial reasons, to the current drive to open up a host of mini-fields.
Dave Hogg, chairman of BALPA’s helicopter committee, told The Scotsman yesterday that if BP ever implemented proposals to switch mostly to helicopters instead of ships for offshore safety cover around its platforms, this alone would require at least 120 highly-trained pilots and aircrew.
Hogg, a pilot with CHC Scotia and a North Sea veteran added: "The purpose of this report is to give our employers something which they can lay in front of the oil companies to convince them of the seriousness of the problem."