Madagascar
June, 2007
To help start a new oil drilling endeavor in the remote plains of Madagascar, the privately-held commercial company Madagascar Oil contracted Nova International, Inc. to procure, deliver and install a full-service permanent base camp to stage its operations from.
Located in the Tsimiroro area, approximately 84 miles (135 km) away from the port of Maintirano, the drilling site required that everything needed to set up the base camp be included. This vast bill of materials included, temporary shelters, tools, generators, hygiene stations, and not least of all, food and water supplies.
With all materials and equipment needed to start operations packed and freighted in dozens of shipping containers, Team Nova - led by project manager Robert Wood - pooled together a local labor force mainly from the "local" village of Ankondramena (located 12.5 miles or 20 km away) and hit the ground running.
Over the course of a month, Madagascar Oil's base camp took shape with infrastructure such as fuel depots and water tanks installed, foundations laid for more permanent structures for office, sleeping quarters and bathrooms to be built upon, and even a dirt airstrip to occasionally fly supplies in.
By day 25, Nova had turned over to the staff of Madagascar Oil a fully operational permanent base camp. From this facility, the company will be able to build the large industrial equipment and drilling stations.
Facts about Madagascar
- Coordinates: 20° S, 478° E
- Total area: 587,0405 sq km
- Climate: tropical along coast, temperate inland, arid in south
- Terrain: narrow coastal plain, high plateau and mountains in center
- Population: 18,595,469
- Median age: 17.5 years
- Airports: 116 (25% paved)
- Roadways: 49,827 km (12% paved)
Facts from the CIA World Factbook
