Statoil Grounds Sikorsky Helos for Inspection

Norway's Statoil (STO) said oil production was not impacted after the firm grounded all its Sikorsky S-92 helicopters used to transport offshore workers after an alert note from Sikorsky Aircraft Corp, a unit of Lockheed Martin Corp, was issued on Tuesday.

"All 13 S-92 helicopters were grounded after a note from the manufacturer today. We are prepared for inspections to take a couple of days," a Statoil spokesman said.

"This means some delays in replacing people on the oil platforms, but production hasn't been affected," he added.

The Norwegian state-controlled oil company stopped using Airbus' H225 Super Puma helicopters after a fatal crash off Norway last April, leaving S-92 the only model to transport offshore workers.

Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis