NHV Group is has secured a five-year contract award with Ineos FPS for helicopter services in the Central North Sea.
Beginning in early November, NHV will perform flights to the Forties Unity from its air base in Aberdeen.
Ineos FPS is a midstream-focused arm of the energy giant, responsible for the Forties Pipeline System, the 600,000-barrel capacity oil and gas liquid transportation and processing system which serves both UK and Norwegian assets in the central North Sea.
The FPS transports crude oil and gas liquids from offshore and onshore entry points, processes the liquids at Kinneil and redelivers Forties Blend crude oil at Hound Point and either raw gas or fractionated gas products at Grangemouth.
The Unity platform lies in Block 21/9 of the North Sea in 122 metres of water, and is a ‘not permanently attended installation’ (NPAI) operated remotely from Ineos’ on-shore control centre at the Kinneil Terminal in Grangemouth.
According to Ineos, maintenance teams visit the platform regularly by helicopter, while more intensive maintenance programs are conducted periodically using a ‘walk to work’ (WTW) vessel.
NHV’s latest award appears to be the most recent in the UK since the appointment of chief executive Thomas Hütsch, who stepped up from the role of COO to replace outgoing CEO Steffen Bay last November.
Although headquartered in Ostend, Belgium, the UK has been the company’s largest market, where it serves clients from its main base in Aberdeen and a recently opened site in Blackpool.
It provides helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) and maritime operations which include search and rescue (SAR), services for oil, gas and offshore wind farms and harbour pilot services.
The company has been growing steadily in the heli services sector in recent years after “betting” on the H175, a lighter, newer, but also smaller, helicopter than the dominant S-92.
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