Bristow Helicopters invests $1m in power

CLARA NWACHUKWU

Offshore logistics and service provider, Bristow Helicopters, has said it is investing over $1million in a gas-to-power project, for its Logistics Base at the NAF Base, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

The company said the move is part of its overall infrastructure expansion drive, meant to ensure adequate power supply to the base. The power project will also cater for its proposed expansion project, in the greater NAF Base heliport expansion, reputed as the biggest heliport in the world when completed.
Bristow, however, said the Heliport expansion is being stalled by the non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, which operators are waiting for to determine government’s policy trend and where to put their money.

Bristow’s Business Development Manager, Mr. Mayowa Babatunde,   told journalists on tour of the Heliport Base that the company’s infrastructure expansion drive also included upgraded logistics put in place to provide better services for Nigeria’s offshore oil and gas industry.

Specifically, he explained that the gas-to-power project is part of the company’s sustainable energy programme in line with Federal Government’s gas monetisation efforts to open up the sector for more investments.

He said, “A lot of factors came into consideration while investing in the gas turbine project. Primarily, the project will provide constant power to the NAF Base, which runs 24/7, and we all know what the power situation in the country is.

“Secondly, the project will cut down our operation costs drastically in terms electricity because we use about 600,000 litres of diesel a month to run our generators, which comes to about N5m monthly. This is aside from the fact that the generators need to be serviced after every 15 hours, which cost additional N100,000 for each servicing.”

Expatiating, the Base Manager, Mr. Jagit Bains, said Bristow envisages recovering all its cost from the project within two years, adding that the company also invested in a 350,000 litre Jet A1 depot, for its aviation fuel.

According to him, “The depot ensures we are never short of fuel and we never need to shut down operations if we must work round the clock.”

Bains however rejected allegations that aviation operators were responsible for the scarcity and high cost of household kerosene, HHK, as oil marketers preferred to divert dual purpose kerosene, DPK, as aviation turbine kerosene, ATK, rather than for domestic use.

He argued that aviation operators cannot dictate to marketers where to sell their products, especially as the aviation fuel sector is fully deregulated.

Rather, he urged government to also fully deregulate the DPK market, pointing out, “The gap between the price of kerosene (N50/L) and ATK (N150) is N100/L, and marketers want to maximize profit.

 

Culled from: http://www.vanguardngr.com