UPDATE: After plane crash in Cameroon, Chevron kicks out Caverton Helicopters

In what appears to be additional trouble for the already bad situation, Chevron has fired Caverton Helicopters from its offshore aviation logistics contract at a time the Nigerian company is battling hard to be reinstated to its Shell contract.

Shell Petroleum Development Company suspended Caverton from its offshore aviation logistics contract late 2021 for safety concerns following mass resignation of Caverton pilots and engineers as a result of poor pay and general staff welfare.

WesternPost exclusively reported earlier that over 20 pilots left Caverton to join its rival company, OAS Helicopters that recently won ExxonMobil contract.

Before the current sad turn of events with Chevron, Caverton was operating 11 helicopters for the international oil company’s business according to industry sources but due to poor management, the fleet reduced to one serviceable helicopter.

“People in our industry are really worried about what is happening to Caverton. The company gave Nigerians hope and the biggest beneficiary of the local content law. It is huge for a Nigerian company to run major contracts for Shell and Chevron. From a company that was operating 11 machines for Chevron to come down to one and now kicked out due to poor performance makes everyone sad. The problem is certainly mismanagement. Caverton is not the only family business in Nigeria and the world. There are family businesses in Nigeria that are running well and many family businesses all over the world have stood the test of time for generations,” said the source.

Our source noted that the downside of business for Caverton Helicopters is a reputational damage for Nigerians and Nigerian owned service providers for the IOCs, adding that the international oil companies now have justification not to give their businesses to service providers from Nigeria.

Our source said: “Caverton fired up hope and pride that Nigerians can do it and take full advantage of the opportunities in our oil and gas sector especially in marine and offshore aviation logistics that were dominated by foreigners before the Local Content Law came into force. We are sad as professionals in the industry with what has happened to Caverton. These IOCs really supported Caverton and we all hoped it will be a success story for the Indigenous service providers.”

We have been reliably informed that Chevron is already talking to Bristow Helicopters to take over the contract from Caverton. Bristow is said to be the former service provider for Chevron before the business moved to Caverton.

While everything seems to be going wrong for the Chief Aderemi Makanjuola’s owned business that is currently run by his son, Niyi Makanjuola who is the Chief Executive Officer, the company suffered a mishap in Cameroon few days ago.

A Caverton owned 11-passenger plane being used to service an oil company operating in Cameroon crashed while flying from Yaounde Nsimalen Airport to Belabo.

WesternPost gathered that the crashed plane had a female Nigerian Pilot, Ms Adzuayi Ewuga, daughter of Mr. Solomon Ewuga, Nigeria’s former Minister of State for Federal Capital Territory.