Published on January 12, 2024

It’s a bird, it’s a plane – it’s BSP’s new aircraft! It was a momentous occasion for BSP as the new Sikorsky S-92 aircraft, a medium-lift helicopter that seats 19 passengers, registered as “V8-BSP” safely arrived from the United States of America.

The S-92 aircraft has been the cornerstone of Brunei Shell Petroleum’s (BSP) air transport services since 2007, and this latest acquisition will further enhance the efficiency of the company’s operations by standardising its aircraft collection.

Currently, BSP has two different types of aircraft in the garage – the S-92 and the AgustaWestland AW-139. Through this standardisation, the team will be able to have consistent training and maintenance plans. This move is part of the Air Fleet Optimization (AFO) initiative aimed to align current process with the BSP’s Bersatu Goals in creating simplified processes.

The “V8-BSP” had its first flight in mid-October 2023. With the optimisation of the aviation fleet, there will be a significant transformation to the “Backbone Flight” schedules, which serves as the core flight infrastructure supporting the essential transportation needs within BSP’s operations. The goal is to maximise resource utilisation and enhance “worker-on-platform” time, which refers to the time employees spend actively engaged on the offshore platforms – this improves overall efficiency.

The arrival of the “V8-BSP” S-92 aircraft introduces a new era of efficiency and cost-effectiveness for Brunei Shell Petroleum. These strategic changes are perfectly aligned with BSP’s unwavering commitment to achieving its BSP Bersatu goals, ensuring safe and sustainable production. The changes will also see the increase of seat utilisation by 20%, resulting in more efficient use of resources. 

Since the first purchase of the S-92 fleet in 2007, this addition will bring the total number of S-92 helicopters to four, comprising of three passenger aircrafts and one search and rescue aircraft. To date, the entire fleet has flown nearly 231,000 flight hours and achieved more than 1,090,000 take-offs and landings, carrying 5.4 million passengers safely to and from offshore platforms!