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..........Bristow Base: Warri (Shell), Nigeria.

Bristow Helicopters has a wealth of experience
of operating helicopters and aeroplanes in Nigeria
with the Bristow Group's first ever oil industry
support related contract being awarded by the
Shell D'Arcy Company of Nigeria in the mid-1950's.
As of year 2000, helicopter sectors (flights) were
standing at over 1.5 million and passengers carried
7.5 million.
Most of the oil related work is based in the Delta region where numerous
flow stations, production wells and other facilities are scattered. They are
served by a number of bases, one of which is Warri (Shell).

A good aerial shot taken by Gunter Burmeister
showing the general layout of the Shell, Warri base.
Having been based there for two years I found this
of particular interest.


And another aerial photo of Warri Nigeria. This
picture was taken by Dave Cameron from about 8,000
feet sometime in 1993 or 94. It clearly shows the layout
of the Shell residential area, dock area, Idugbo camp,
(where the world famous no.17 is.) and Ogunu village.

Types known to have operated at Warri (Shell) were
Wessex and Bell 212s, the latter replacing the former
in the early eighties. Both types can be observed in the
picture. The staff routines were either "two and one"
for bachelor postings or one year and six weeks leave
for married accompanied staff. Travel to and from the operation was by fixed-
wing out of Warri strip, typically BN-2 Islander in the early days replaced by
the Twin Otters later on. (see pic below)

One of the numerous swamp based installations
supported by Warri based aircraft. This flow station
was equipped with an NDB ( navigation beacon) that
was fitted and maintained by the Bristow avionic guys.
After this beacon mysteriously stopped functioning I
was dropped off at the flow station with toolkit and test equipment and spent
the next few hours in the little white metal box clearing electrocuted ants out
of the electrical junction box. With outside temperatures of about 32c I was
well parched by the time we got back to Warri - had to wait a few hours to
be picked up if I remember rightly.

Another dramatic shot from Gunter showing a Warri
Bell 212 positioned on an offshore installation.
Some of Gunter's original pictures are quite stunning
but cannot be done justice in a 50kb jpeg!




Below are a few more pics of the Warri operation.