Oil and Gas People has learned that Talisman Sinopec Energy UK has removed offshore workers access to the Sky Television service from all their North Sea assets in a cost saving measure that is estimated will save the company over £1 million per year. The move comes at the expense of worker comforts and staff morale.

Talisman Sinopec Energy UK earlier this year announced planned redundancies for 100 employees and 200 contractors from its 3000 strong North Sea workforce, it also implemented a reduction in contractor rates amid the slump in oil price.

With low morale affecting many within the industry, the suggested 3 on, 3 off shift plan has raised serious questions about workers safety offshore. One worker affected told Oil and Gas People: "With everything that has happened it feels like we are just having salt rubbed in our wounds. We are not a large installation and Sky TV was one of the few 'luxuries' we had especially compared to bigger platforms." Another worker told how crew were not consulted on the change and returned from rotation to find the service removed. 

Further rumours speculate that WiFi is also being systematically removed from rigs across the North Sea as industry cost cutting appears to be getting extreme. 

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