The deal gives Statoil a single point of contact when it comes to its safety equipment maintenance.

However, it also means that over time all of Statoil's offshore safety equipment will come from Viking.

Statoil's rigs have been built at various times and were equipped with the best of what was available at the time of construction.

Over the years many of the products have been updated, but rarely or never as a complete installation upgrade.

Also, its platforms are designed for a variety of purposes and environments. Therefore, they require slightly different types and specifications of equipment.

This has led to a mix of brands, models and vintages that demand significant time and resources to maintain.

The challenges are not Statoil's alone but do present some tough challenges for its suppliers, who have to maintain spare parts inventories, accurate delivery times and consistent quality.

Delivery logistics are complicated too. Offshore platform owners are often forced to choose between buying or renting a temporary set of life rafts to replace equipment being serviced, or reducing onboard personnel for days while vital safety equipment is being maintained onshore.

The Viking Offshore Safety Agreement is designed to make for easier administration for Statoil's platforms and logistics staff.

Previously, numerous emails and phone calls flew between the various Statoil installations and a range of different safety equipment suppliers.

Establishing and consolidating the various budgets at corporate level took hours.

Viking has taken full responsibility for its customer's life rafts and chute systems, and its offshore service planning department coordinates scheduled servicing. That includes coordination with supply vessel schedules.

"Until the agreement Statoil's North Sea installations have been servicing their safety equipment under a variety of different schemes with little or no synchronisation or coordination with other installations in the area," Statoil senior engineer in charge of maintenance management Frode Lindseth said.

"Now Viking has taken on the management effort, creating a single point of contact for us and finding new efficiencies with a minimum of disruption to Statoil's production and production support processes.

"And the new predictability of costs is also very important to us, too.

"At the moment we have several different brands of equipment but over the years to come we expect only to have Viking."

Viking offshore vice-president Benny Carlsen said the single-source safety management possibilities for offshore platform owners and operators were a welcome addition to the methods being deployed to tighten up operating efficiency.

"From an overall safety perspective this is a real game changer," Carlsen said.

"Basically we take care of all aspects of a rig owner's safety equipment and servicing tasks for predictable, transparent prices."