BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 25
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
A total of 18,500 employees of the Tengizchevroil oil company (TCO) and contracting organizations were evacuated from the Tengiz field due to the threat of coronavirus spread, TCO’s Manager General of Public Relations Rzabek Artygaliev said, Trend reports with reference to Kazakh media.
Artygaliev said that the employees were temporarily removed in order to prevent the coronavirus spread among employees.
“Some 18,500 people were temporarily removed from the Tengiz field today. Infection spreads very quickly where there is a lot of people. Therefore, it was necessary to reduce the number of people at the field,” Artygaliev said.
In order to remove the employees, the company allocated funds for over 40 commercial flights, 211 flights by TCO’s Dash 8 plane and 170 buses, and 16 trains.
This work was carried out by the company during the emergency state and quarantine in the Atyrau region, he said.
On May 20, 2020 Kazakhstan’s Chief Sanitary Doctor Aizhan Yesmagambetova said that operations at TCO-operated Tengiz oil and gas field may be suspended if number COVID-19 cases among field’s staff go on increasing.
The data as of May 21, said that 935 coronavirus cases of total cases countrywide account for Tengizchevroil staff.
The first two cases of coronavirus infection were detected in Kazakhstan among those who arrived in Almaty city from Germany on March 13, 2020.
The total number of coronavirus cases confirmed in Kazakhstan amounted to 8,531. This includes 4,352 people who recovered from the coronavirus, and 35 patients who passed away.
The Tengiz oil field was discovered in 1979 and is one of the biggest and deepest oil fields in the world. The total explored reserves of Tengiz reach 3.2 billion tons, while recoverable reserves range from 890 million tons to 1.37 billion tons.
In 1993, Tengizchevroil LLP, which is the project operator, was established on the basis of an agreement between Kazakhstan and Chevron. Presently, Tengizchevroil includes Chevron (50 percent), ExxonMobil Kazakhstan Ventures Inc. (25 percent), KazMunayGas (20 percent) and LukArco (5 percent).
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