Since September 1 Tengizchevroil (TCO) has recalled personnel to its production sites including the Future Expansion Project and Wellhead Pressure Management Project (FGP-WPMP) at the Tengiz oil field, according to the company’s press service.
The recall of staff will be set in place in stages, following all health system requirements and depending on the epidemiological situation at the Tengiz field and in the entirety of Kazakhstan.
«Currently, TCO’s production activities are ongoing without interruption, and we continue to take measures aimed at the safe execution of the main operations of the FGP-WPMP ‘critical path’,» the company said.
As of September 7, 4,147 COVID-19 cases were reported at the field with 3,295 workers recovered.
«The bulk of positive cases are detected through PCR testing before workers are sent to the field. Among TCO employees, 402 cases were confirmed. As of September 7, 24 workers are on observation in the infectious diseases hospital of the Tengiz field, which is only 6% of the total number of beds,» the company informed.
The FGP will use state-of-the-art sour gas injection technology to increase daily crude oil production from Tengiz by 12 million tons of oil per year. This is a big project that costs $45.2 billion in total.
Earlier this year, TCO was forced to suspend work and evacuate all workers from the oil field because of COVID-19. The first case of COVID-19 in Tengiz was reported on April 8, 2020.
