Things are getting worse on an almost daily basis i the Niger Delta of Nigeria, where the main Bristow and CHC bases are situated.
Yesterday 2 more expatriates workers were kidnapped in Port Harcourt. American construction company, Willbros announced that they are to pull out of Nigeria because of losses and difficulty in being able to continue working in the country. Willbros has been here for more than 30 years and is the major pipeline construction company in the Niger delta.
Today Julius Berger, the German construction giant announced that it is immediately pulling out of the Niger delta and riverine areas of Nigeria. They do a large amount of construction work in the area and the economic impact of this will be fairly major. Already the Governor of Bayelsa state has warned community leaders who give shelter to the militants carrying out kidnappings and acts of violence against oil workers that he will no longer tolerate it and that if it continues they can expect a major military action in the area.
There are presently 10 expatriate workers being held by various groups in and around Port Harcourt.
What has the reaction to this been by Bristow and CHC? Um, nothing
Bristow staff are housed in Woji in a nice estate which was chosen because it was cheap. It was cheap because it's in a dangerous area where most people don't want to live. I don't see any of their top management wanting to relocate from Lagos to there
. CHC are now talking about moving to a nice new estate on the dangerous East West road in Port Harcourt. But it's okay, because Nigeria is paradise according to higher levels of management. That's probably why the Incentive Pay remained unchanged in their enormous 4% pay rise