Weather leaves offshore workers stranded in North Sea ahead of Christmas

Craig Williams
Wed, 21 December 2022 

The Tyra II offshore development in the North Sea (Image: TotalEnergies)

There are fears that hundreds of offshore workers could be forced to spend Christmas on platforms in the North Sea due to disruption to helicopter transport caused by adverse weather.

French firm TotalEnergies said the disruption was down to a phenomenon known as ‘triggered lightning’, which is caused by polar air passing over a warmer sea surface.

TotalEnergies confirmed that the phenomenon was responsible for the cancellation of 52 flights so far in November and December 2022, compared to zero cancellations during the same period in 2021.

All of TotalEnergies’s manned offshore installations in the North Sea, located around 250 kilometres off the coast of Denmark, are normally serviced by helicopters, which on a normal weekday transport approximately 130 people back and forth out of a total offshore workforce of over 1,000 persons.

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However, because of the disruption, over 250 workers, many of whom are Scottish, should have left who continue to wait for transport to shore at the Danish seaport town of Esbjerg.

TotalEnergies said it “fully understands” the difficult situation offshore workers currently find themselves in and that it is doing all it can to get all those stranded on its offshore installations back to shore before Christmas.

A spokesperson for TotalEnergies told The Herald: “TotalEnergies is very concerned about the disturbances of the helicopter transport caused by adverse weather. We fully understand the challenging situation that is faced by personnel wanting to get home in time for the holidays, and we are doing all we can to get everyone transported onshore safely as soon as possible.

“All our manned offshore installations are normally serviced by helicopters, which on a normal weekday transport approximately 130 people back and forth out of a total workforce offshore of approx. 1250 persons. Since the flights have not been able to take place to the required extent, there are approx. 255 people who should have left and are now awaiting transport to shore.

“Helicopter transports during wintertime around the North Sea are always challenging due to ice, fog, wind speeds and other factors. This year has been particularly impacted by so-called “triggered lightning” which is caused by polar air passing over a warmer sea surface.

“We never compromise with the safety of our employees, neither on the platforms offshore nor during the transport back and forth between Esbjerg and the fields 250 km out in the North Sea.”

TotalEnergies also confirmed that it has called in extra helicopters to increase flights when the weather allows and chartered three boats to collect workers stranded offshore.

A spokesperson added: We are in close dialogue with our supplier of flights, Offshore Helicopter Services Denmark, and other parties, so that we can best keep our employees informed and maximise flights when it is safe. Extra helicopters have been called in from another helicopter supplier so that we can increase the number of flights when the weather permits.

“In addition, we have committed three boats at short notice. The first boat left Esbjerg harbour the night between Saturday and Sunday, and embarked Monday on its second trip offshore. The two remaining boats sailed off Tuesday on their first trip offshore, and all will sail back and forth as needed.”