Russia continues to expand its contract services to foreign oil exploration and development companies, especially to those operating in remote areas outside their own countries.
Four Mi-8 transport helicopters and 21 pilots working for Tyumenaviatrans in western Siberia's Tyumen Province have been hired by Colombia's Helitaxi company for 1 year, the Moscow newspaper Trud reported.
They will deliver cargoes to rigs operated by British and U.S. companies at sites with poor transport access. The contract also provides for retraining of Latin American pilots at a Tyumenaviatrans instructional center and for purchase of late model M1-OM helicopters in Russia.
Trud said because of financial difficulties, regular Tyumenaviatrans customers in western Siberia-geological, oil, gas, and construction enterprises-are able to employ only one third of the firm's helicopter fleet, which is one of the largest in the Commonwealth of Independent States. This has forced the company to look for contracts abroad.
Tyumenaviatrans pilots are working in Angola, Yugoslavia, Kampuchea, and Papua New Guinea. Early this year a Peruvian exploration and production firm let a contract to Sojuzkarta, Moscow, for a Russian drilling rig, related equipment, and technicians to drill wildcats in Peru (OGJ, Mar. 23, p. 46).
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