The epidemic caused by the new crown virus “invasion” of offshore drilling platforms may be much more serious than people had previously expected. According to a Reuters report on April 15, data provided by the Brazilian National Petroleum Administration (ANP) shows that 126 oil and gas workers in Brazil have been diagnosed with new coronary pneumonia, of which 74 have recently worked on offshore platforms.
The Brazilian National Petroleum Administration said that as of Monday night, there were 897 new suspected cases of new coronary pneumonia in the Brazilian oil and gas industry. The industry employs tens of thousands of Brazilians and is an important cornerstone of the largest economy in Latin America.
Since February, new cruise outbreaks have occurred on many cruise ships and multinational aircraft carriers. Similarly, the offshore drilling platform is also a confined space and crowded area.
The report said that confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia have also occurred in oil-producing regions such as the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea, but Brazil ’s offshore oil fields are hit harder. Although Brazil ’s oil and gas production is currently insignificantly affected by this, changes in staffing have caused some of the world ’s most promising offshore oilfields to stagnate, adding to the shrinking global oil demand and increasing the uncertainty of the oil industry.
A document obtained by Reuters shows that in a deep-sea oil-producing region in Brazil ’s Santos Basin, Petrobras reported last week that its employees and subcontractors There are a total of 59 suspected cases and 19 confirmed cases. All of the above confirmed cases were from a ship of Japanese oil service company Modec, and the suspected cases were distributed on more than a dozen offshore or nearby coastal facilities, including 11 suspected cases on the drilling platform of the high-yield Santos Basin Lula Oilfield.
Brazilian Petroleum announced on the 9th that an offshore floating oil production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) is located near the coast of Sao Espiritu in southeast Brazil The 53 workers on the job were diagnosed with new coronary pneumonia on the 9th local time. This tanker is a floating-body oil production storage and output facility for the Dutch SBM Offshore Petroleum Company serving Petrobras.
Petrobras said that in order to protect the privacy of employees and their families, no new cases of coronary pneumonia will be announced. However, the company has taken strict measures to protect offshore oil workers from the new crown virus, including 7 days of quarantine and monitoring during the forward behavior, and evacuation of all workers on the offshore platform who have respiratory problems, regardless of whether these symptoms are related to the new crown. Related to pneumonia.
On March 11, Norwegian National Oil (Equinor) claimed that a staff member of the Martin Linge oil field in the North Sea was tested positive for coronavirus, which is the first confirmed case of new coronary pneumonia on a global offshore platform. After this, many confirmed and suspected cases were found on drilling platforms and supporting ships in the North Sea, Australia, Nigeria and other seas.