Shell Oil, the U.S. subsidiary of energy giant Royal Dutch Shell, has evacuated nine workers from a company platform in the Gulf of Mexico for testing and treatment of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.
The workers were airlifted by helicopter to unidentified medical facilities. Five of the workers tested positive for coronavirus, two are waiting test results and two were negative for the virus.
One of the workers who was tested was held for observation for 24 hours at an unidentified health facility then released; the others who were tested were released without hospitalization, according to Shell. The two workers awaiting test results remain at the medical facility.
The number of workers aboard the platform, which Shell didn’t identify, is being reduced to minimum levels, spokeswoman Cindy Babski said.
“Shell’s priority remains the safety and health of our people and the safe operations of all our businesses,” the company said in a statement. “We have been and will continue to take steps to protect all employees following guidance from the CDC and local public health officials while maintaining data privacy and individual health confidentiality.”
The company, which has its U.S. headquarters in Houston, said it now tests all offshore workers before they’re flown to rigs.
Following a similar outbreak at one of its offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico in March, British oil major BP enacted a “team-based shift model” where contact between two teams was restricted.
This article first appeared on the Houston Chronicle – an Energy Voice content partner. For more from the Houston Chronicle click here.
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