BP pulls out of Scatsta to focus on Sumburgh offshore ops

Oil giant BP has announced it will terminate its participation in the Integrated Aviation Consortium (IAC), a consortium of Bristow Helicopters (BHL, Aberdeen Dyce), its subsidiary Eastern Airways (T3, Humberside), and five oil and gas companies based at Scatsta. The company will instead contract its offshore services to Babcock MCS Offshore (Aberdeen Dyce) based out of Sumburgh, Energy Voice has reported.

The relocation is expected to happen in November. The IAC is not expecting any major changes to its operations at Scatsta, an airport located in the northern part of the Mainland island in the Shetland islands.

"Shetland’s strategic importance to the North Sea is significant. Sumburgh and Scatsta will continue to play a major role in our delivery of aviation services to operators and the supply chain, in the coming years. There is significant E&P activity around the Shetland Islands and, coupled with the extended life of existing assets, new work continues to emerge in the region. At present, we do not anticipate any immediate changes to our operational setup," a Bristow spokesman has told ch-aviation.

It is not clear whether BP intends to fully terminate its contract with Bristow and replace it with the Babcock deal. In late 2013, the oil giant inked a five-year GBP125 million pound (USD166 million) contract with Bristow Helicopters covering offshore services out of Sumburgh operated with two Sikorsky Aircraft S92 helicopters.

"We are in discussions with partners in the IAC following BP’s confirmation of its centralisation of services in and out of the islands to Sumburgh, regarding service provision beyond November 2018, and will continue to engage with other stakeholders throughout the coming months," Bristow has added.

BP has earlier sold its stake at the Sullom Voe oil terminal, located next to Scatsta airport, to EnQuest.

"By consolidating our aviation requirements to Sumburgh we are reaffirming our commitment to that airbase; increasing the number of weekly BP flights at Sumburgh to approximately 20," BP has said.