60 ONGC workers from single platform test +ve

MUMBAI:SIXTY Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) employees from a single platform at Bombay High have tested positive for Covid-19. Sources said the infected employees were being brought back to Mumbai and the management was contemplating closing the platform due to a large number of infected workers. However, ONGC has denied shutting down any platforms on the oil rig.

ONGC said that it has been maintaining a stringent Covid-19 compliance operation system.

“Recently some employees of two offshore platforms (BHS and Neelam) have been found Covid positive, even though they have passed through a very stringent system of crew changeover procedure for over a month, back when they had gone to the respective platforms,” read a statement issued from ONGC.

Additionally, 31 of the ONGC workers had tested positive for Covid-19, last week. Most of them belonged to Neelam Complex offshore platform and were admitted to a Mahim-based hospital.

A senior ONGC official said that during the lockdown, ONGC had picked up its crew from their vehicles up to the designated exclusive hotel near the hub-airports (in their respective cities) where they stayed in separate rooms before they flew to Mumbai. ONGC employees and contractual staff travelled by a special chartered aircraft.

“After arriving in Mumbai, these crews were put in exclusive hotels in isolation. After five days, their Covid-19 samples were collected by authorised labs and only after ensuring Covid negative results, they were again transported to Juhu heli-base and were then flown to offshore installations. Similar actions are also being taken for the secondary workforce and contractual staff,” said an ONGC official.

The company’s spokesperson said, “It is pertinent to mention that due to the nature of the job and limited space on offshore installations, proximity is imperative in oil field operations. Despite that, because of adhering to stringent standard operating procedures, we have been successful in keeping our operation unaffected by the pandemic.