■ TANZANIA: Everett Aviation secures chopper contract with Norway's Statoil.

Everett Aviation Tanzania has secured a multi-year helicopter contract with Norwegian petroleum giant, Statoil. Under the deal, Everett will lease three new AgustaWestland AW139 helicopters from a major operator in Q4 of this year in support of Statoil’s offshore drilling operations in Tanzania and Mozambique in which two choppers will be used for crew change work whilst the third will be a high specification, dedicated search and rescue aircraft.

Simon Everett, the CEO of Everett Aviation, said: 

“This is a significant win for Everett and a further step in the company’s business expansion and focus on the oil and gas industry offshore East Africa. We are delighted to have the opportunity to provide services to Statoil and to continue our provision of offshore helicopter services in East Africa.”

Everett operations in Kenya

Mr Everett added that his company is committed to the development of the local helicopter services sector and will shortly be selecting a group of Tanzanian pilots to be sent for training at the Bristow Flight Academy in the United States to obtain Commercial Helicopter Licences.

Everett Aviation will be expanding their base with the construction of a new 2'300sqm MRO Hangar in Dar es Salaam which will house offices and workshops and is scheduled to be ready in January 2014. The company also has offshore service bases in Mtwara, Tanzania and Bamburi (Mombasa) and Malindi, Kenya

Earlier this year, Statoil said it had found between 4 and 6trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Tangawizi-1 well in Block 2, about 100km off the Tanzanian coast, effectively bringing the Norwegian corporation's total recoverable reserves in the area to between 10 and 13 trillion cubic feet. Exploration in Mozambican waters is also ongoing.