Further evidence has emerged of the impact of the downturn in the offshore oil and gas market, with three of the sector’s big helicopter providers reporting sharply reduced quarterly profits over the past few days.

Danish drilling contractor Maersk Drilling reported its 2Q 2015 profit of $218 million, up from $117 million in the second quarter of 2014.

The British Airline Pilots’ Association is holding a ballot amid concerns over job cuts among helicopter pilotsPilots flying helicopters in the North Sea are threatening to go on strike after two companies announced job losses in the wake of the oil price collapse.

Prosafe, an owner and operator of semi-submersible accommodation vessels, has signed a contract with Petrobras Netherlands B.

Det norske, an oil exploration and development company, is ramping up production on its Alvheim floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel located in the Norwegian North Sea.

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North Sea-focused Ithaca Energy has said acquisitions are still on the company’s agenda after it generated $160 million (£100m) cash from operations net of costs in the first half in spite of the crude price plunge.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has informed that preliminary production figures for July 2015 show an average daily production of about 1 946 000 barrels of oil, NGL and condensate.

Lansdowne Oil & Gas, the independent oil and gas company focussed on offshore Ireland, announced yesterday that after reaching the target depth, the Midleton exploration well in the licence SEL 4/07, in the Celtic Sea offshore Ireland, will be plugged and abandoned.

The Norway Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) has granted Lundin Norway consent to drill exploration well 7220/6-2 in the Barents Sea in a prospect called Neiden.