Scottish offshore workers have shared their concerns they will be stuck on their rigs for Christmas after flights were allegedly cancelled by their company.
Hundreds of employees currently out in the North Sea may be forced to spend December 25 at work after their journey home was said to be cancelled due to bad weather.
Claiming their employer scrapped the flights and failed to reschedule them, the Record reports that workers are now threatening to protest unless new helicopters are organised.
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Stating they will stay in their cabins and refuse to work, one worker said that they are worried violence could break out on the rig, with last week's incident on a Qatar rig playing on their mind.
The whistleblower said yesterday that employees of French oil firm TotalEnergies are unhappy with the situation. The worker, who asked not to be identified, said: “After the recent bad weather we have over 600 international contractors – with around 200 from Scotland – stranded aboard the Tyra Redevelopment Project and various other oil rigs.
“There are loads of guys with young families who are on the verge of nervous breakdowns. We need to get home to our families for Christmas, but they’ve refused to budge.”
“The company is refusing to put extra transport on to get us home for Christmas. There’s been threats of sit ins, where guys refuse to leave their cabins to do their shifts.
The oil and gas industry was rocked last week when a worker was killed and another injured in a violent attack on board a rig in Qatar. Christopher Begley, of Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, was attacked last Monday and was sent back to Scotland to recover.
His colleague Robert Robson, of Tyne and Wear, was killed. Aberdeen man Scott Forrest was later arrested in connection with the incident. The Denmark-based worker fears violence could also break out on his rig as tensions rise.
He said: “There’s a real worry there could be a violent incident with the amount of guys under serious stress. As you would expect, all the lads have all been talking about the situation and the issue of what happens if there is a real abandon platform alarm has been raised.
“We would all be snookered as there’s no helicopters available to get us off of here, and they’ve cancelled all the choppers that were due to fly out out on Monday as well.”
And the source added: "It’s turning into a living nightmare. Hopefully they open the purse strings and get us all home.”
TotalEnergies, described as “a multi-energy company that produces and markets fuels, natural gas and electricity”, was approached for comment.
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