<\/p>\n
The standoff creates another threat for an industry that\u2019s already reeling from a deep price slump. Outbreaks on cruise ships were among the first signs of the threat posed by the coronavirus, and conditions on offshore oil facilities are similar.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The danger is underscored by the deaths of 227 oil workers at Petroleos Mexicanos, the highest toll of any company worldwide.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cOil platforms are just like cruise liners\u201d in terms of infection risk, said Jake Molloy, an organizer for offshore workers at the RMT union. \u201cThe confined space, the communal areas, food handling, hygiene, everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Anyone in the U.K. can get tested for the coronavirus if they have symptoms. The British government \u2014 criticized for inadequate testing during the initial stages of the pandemic \u2014 now says it has the capacity to do 300,000 assessments a day.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But asymptomatic tests \u2014 medical examinations that check for Covid-19 in a person not showing signs of the illness \u2014 are only available for front-line workers in the National Heath Service.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The industry has been pushing for a policy change since early July, when Deirdre Michie, chief executive officer of lobby group Oil and Gas U.K., issued a \u201cplea\u201d for blanket testing of offshore workers at a hearing in parliament.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Companies have done a good job of limiting the number of cases, Michie said, with some paying for their own tests. But the industry needs to be ready for \u201csecond spikes\u201d as it scales up production and brings more workers back to rigs, she said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The U.K. Department for Health declined to comment on its plans for oil and gas workers, saying it would wait for the results of a trial into asymptomatic testing for employees in other industries.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The U.K. North Sea\u2018s main hub is the city of Aberdeen in Scotland. The regional government currently has no plans to offer the oil industry asymptomatic tests. Such measures \u201cwould not remove the risk of people incubating the disease becoming symptomatic offshore\u201d according to a spokesperson from Public Health Scotland.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Trevor Stapleton, health and safety director for Oil and Gas U.K., acknowledged this risk but said blanket testing is worth doing anyway.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if we stop one case going offshore, that\u2019s a massive win for us,\u201d said Stapleton. \u201cTo be able to distinguish between coughs, colds and Covid is going to be pretty important.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The U.K. is reliant on the North Sea for domestic energy supply, so the personnel that produce it are \u201cabsolutely critical,\u201d said the RMT\u2019s Molloy. They should be included in the Department for Health\u2018s pilot study in which people whose job puts them at high risk of infection, such as shop workers and taxi drivers, receive tests without having symptoms, he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cSo taxi drivers are now being given tests, but not key workers in the energy sector?\u201d said Molloy. \u201cThis seems like a no-brainer.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2020 Bloomberg L.P<\/em> <\/p>\n gCaptain<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The standoff creates another threat for an industry that\u2019s already reeling from a deep price slump. Outbreaks on cruise ships were among the first signs of the threat posed by the coronavirus, and conditions on offshore oil facilities are similar. The danger is underscored by the deaths of 227 oil workers at Petroleos Mexicanos, the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[7268,2956,1277,9282,7763,166,1550],"class_list":["post-14146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marine-world","tag-covid","tag-government","tag-industry","tag-mass","tag-odds","tag-oil","tag-testing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/14147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}