Boomtime for China's offshore chopper fleet

China's booming offshore oil industry is fueling a growing demand for helicopters, and some operators are now planning to double the size of their fleets over the next couple of years.

The largest supplier of new aircraft in the region predicts that the number of helicopters in the skies above the oil-rich Chinese waters will increase from the current 300 to more than 1,000 in the next decade.

The country's helicopter services industry is now dominated by three main players: CITIC Offshore Helicopter Co Ltd, China Southern Airlines Co Ltd's Zhuhai helicopter branch and Eastern General Aviation Corp Co Ltd .

Officials at the Shenzhen-based COHC, with a 56 percent share of the market, say it will deliver the basic service of transporting workers to and from rigs and dealing with emergencies and plans to expand its scope into helicopter training, maintenance and onshore services.

The Zhuhai helicopter branch of China Southern, with a 30 per cent share of the offshore sector, plans to expand its fleet from 17 to 50 helicopters by 2020.

Liu Jianxin, deputy general manager of COHC, says it is about to take a delivery of 11 new helicopters from Eurocopter SAS, the leading European helicopter manufacture, over the next three years, adding to the 41 it operated at the end of last year, which included 23 working exclusively offshore.

"COHC has seen its fastest development ever over the past two years, since we started operations in 1983," says Liu, a direct result of the booming Chinese offshore oil sector.

According to China National Offshore Oil Corp, the sector will achieve an annual production rate of 150 million tons of oil and gas during the 12th Five-Year Plan period, and production from deep sea exploration will be 50 million tons of that, suggesting the good times are set to continue for those main helicopter operators.

The demands on the helicopter crews off the coasts of China are considerable, and often dangerous.

COHC used all its helicopters in Shenzhen to move more than 200 staff members from rigs in the South China Sea on June 19, when a typhoon threatened the area.

According to Christopher Grainger, vice-president of oil and gas at Eurocopter, China's offshore oil and gas industry is his main customer, and a quarter of the 120 Eurocopter craft in the country operate to and from fields.

"The offshore oilfields' demands for helicopters will continue to rise, since China's offshore oilfield is going deeper and production is also set to increase," he said.

The European manufacturer held a seminar in Shenzhen from Monday to Wednesday to work out how best to meet the growing demand.

Jian Zhuodong, deputy general manager of Zhuhai Helicopter Branch of China Southern Airlines Co Ltd, says his firm will be expanding its fleet by more than 50 percent to 50 choppers by 2020.

"We are working on recruiting pilots and crews for the future expansion," he adds.

He's justifiably optimistic about the business for offshore oilfields and says larger helicopters will be needed as oilfields dig into deeper waters.