Insurance Jottings

Virus Causes New Offshore UK Travel Policy

The UK oil and gas industry has agreed a new travel policy for offshore installations following the outbreak of the coronavirus, industry body Oil & Gas UK (OGUK) has revealed.

 

According to the new policy, personnel will not be permitted to travel offshore if:

 

  • They have travelled from, or transited through, affected countries in the last 14 days, or since dates defined on the UK government’s list of affected areas. This includes both Category 1 and Category 2 areas (up to date lists can be found here)

 

  • They have been in close contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19 in the last 14 days

 

  • They have experienced symptoms of cough, fever and shortness of breath.

 

“Given the challenges of managing any confirmed case of COVID-19 on an offshore installation, industry policy is to have restrictions on workers travelling to offshore installations,” OGUK Health, Safety and Environment Director Trevor Stapleton said.

 

On the 11th March, OGUK cancelled its scheduled breakfast briefings in both Aberdeen and London “in light of the developing spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) in the UK and elsewhere”.

 

“We’d like to thank you for your understanding on the constraints that are being placed on events and meetings,” OGUK said in a company statement posted on its website.

 

“We appreciate your plans for the events would have been underway and apologise for any inconvenience caused,” OGUK added.

 

In replacement of the breakfast events, OGUK said it was progressing plans to host a webinar with industry panellists.

 

OGUK also revealed on the 11th March that it was re-evaluating the content of its business outlook report “given the rapidly changing commodity price environment”. The industry body now plans to publish a series of smaller reported over the coming weeks “to best capture what is a dynamic business environment”.

 

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