Hundreds of offshore workers who feared they could be forced to spend Christmas on platforms in the North Sea are now expected to be make it home.
Around 250 workers, many of whom are Scottish, were left stranded after adverse weather meant over 50 helicopter flights were cancelled in November and December.
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.
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All of the firm’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.
TotalEnergies confirmed on Thursday that the number of stranded workers has been “substantially reduced” due to improvements in the weather and after it hired extra helicopters and chartered three boats to transport workers back to shore.
It added that all stranded personnel are now expected to be back on shore at the Danish seaport town of Esbjerg by the end of Thursday.
A spokesperson for TotalEnergies said: “We are pleased to confirm that the number of stranded personnel on the North Sea has been substantially reduced in the past days, and we expect to bring all remaining people back onshore by the end of today. This has been possible thanks to both weather improvements, the extra efforts to hire more helicopters and to commit three ships to get everyone transported safely onshore.
We fully understand the challenging situation that our teams have faced by not being able to fly home as scheduled due to disturbances in the helicopter transport caused by adverse weather. However, we have been working hard on assuring that all people get back onshore as soon as possible, and in time for Christmas.”
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