helihawkeye,
As Mama says, under the OLOG management Bristow and Pan African shortly all to be the same company, but I haven't heard if the Pan African will change from 4/4 or if the pay scales of the 2 companies will be the same. There are a lot of new pilots in all the companies now. Some of them are very worried about the present security situation and some of the old hands are very complacent. Probably the best attitude to have is somewhere between the two.
It's certainly been a lot worse before during the hijacking days of the late 90's, but the violence this time seems to be coming from gangs of militia/robbers who are armed as well as, or better than, the police and military and whose tactics are more than a match for either. It's easy to write off some of the present attacks as unpolitically motivated robbery, but many Nigeria-watchers think that this is just one phase of building up sufficient funds to finance an increase in violence with more and better weapons. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta made it clear that the release of the 4 expatriates which it had held hostage was a goodwill gesture towards overseas governments, but that it would be continuing and escalating its campaign to destroy the oil export capability of the Nigerian government until such time as it is ready to channel more of its oil revenues into improving the quality of life of the people in the oil producing region. With a lot of political unrest being stirred up by rumours that President Olusegun Obasanjo is plotting to return for a third term as President, worries that the government may yet again disregard the law and inflict reprisals against villages in areas of unrest, more breakdown in civil law and order and little real progress in the campaign against corruption, it is unlikely that the security situation will improve in the run-up to the 2007 elections.
If you're careful and aware of the risks, there's no doubt that Nigeria is a good place to establish yourself in the offshore market. There's beena big growth in the offshore market in Nigeria over the past few years, particularly with further developments in deepwater fields, further exploration of deepwater fields at increasing distances offshore and more emphasis on developing the huge reserves of gas that Nigeria has. With the oil price likely to remain high for the forseeable future there is likely to be a further increase in the offshore helicopter market and with both Bristow and CHC putting a lot of their newest helicopters in Nigeria now it's a good place to be.
I wouldn't bet on Bristow changing to 6/6. The higher salary they pay seems to give them less of a pilot turnover than Aero has right now with at least 5 or 6 expat pilots leaving or having left in the past few months.
Take MM's advice and go for whichever one offers the deal which best suits you - if you don't like it you can always swap later.