IBADAN, Nigeria -(Dow Jones)- A $630 million aviation logistics contract hasbeen signed by Shell Petroleum Development Co., or SPDC, in Nigeria and CavertonHelicopters, a senior Shell official said.
Babs Omotowa, vice president, Infrastructure and Logistics, Exploration andProduction Africa, said under the terms of the contract, Caverton Helicopters, aNigerian logistics company, will in partnership with a Danish firm, DanCopterAS, provide helicopter services to SPDC (on shore) and Shell Nigeria Explorationand Production Company Ltd., or SNEPCo, (off shore) for five years, renewablefor two more years.
SPDC and SNEPCo are Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s (RDSA) Nigerian on shore and offshore joint ventures.
The contract initialed at the weekend in Lagos, the Nigerian capital, “is thebiggest aviation contract yet to be signed by an international oil company andan indigenous company in Nigeria,” he said.
SPDC is the biggest private-sector oil and gas company in Nigeria. However,oil and gas production by Shell and other international oil companies, or ICOsin the country’s Niger Delta has been disrupted by militants’ activities in theregion since February 2006.
The militants kidnapped local and foreign oil workers, destroyed oil and gasfacilities and succeeded in cutting Nigeria’s oil exports by about 1 millionbarrels.
However, an amnesty program launched last year by the then Nigerian presidentUmaru Yar’Adua, stemmed restiveness in the region and oil production hasincreased substantially to more than 2 million barrels a day, according togovernment officials.
-By Obafemi Oredein contributing to Dow Jones Newswires;