Safety NEWS

The number of COVID-19 cases rose to 160 in the Tengiz Oilfield in West Kazakhstan’s Atyrau region, while nearly 12,000 employees have been withdrawn from the site. The earliest cases occurred in a worker’s camp on the site, in April. Over 1,500 workers have been identified as close contacts, so far. Reportedly, a total of 17,000 employees will be demobilized by the end of next week.

Citing water contamination issues in Milford Haven, environmental watchdog of Wales, NRW has ordered to suspend two fuel pipelines on the Valero refinery jetty. Valero Energy had reported a product leak into the Milford Haven Waterway, last week. The US-based downstream firm runs the 220,000 barrel per day oil refinery in Pembroke.

Oil supermajor, Chevron has announced a $1 million aid to the American Red Cross in support of relief efforts for wildfires in Northern and Southern California. Chairman and CEO, Chevron, Michael Wirth said, “Our thoughts are with all our neighbours who have been affected by the fires, and we honor all those working to contain them.”

Supermajor, ExxonMobil has been slammed with a new lawsuit by the New York Attorney General. The lawsuit alleges Exxon of misleading investors about its readiness to overcome the financial challenges posed by climate change to their business. The suit follows a three-year legal fight against Exxon. Spokesman for Exxon, referring to the allegations as baseless, said that the New York AG’s office is yet to find any evidence against Exxon.

Oil supermajor, Chevron has announced a $500,000 contribution to support Hurricane Michael relief measures. Hurricane Michael, which was a Category 4 storm, took a massive toll on the Gulf Coast and Florida, while spawning numerous tornadoes. The money will be split equally between the American Red Cross and Volunteer Florida. President of Chevron Americas Products believes that the donation will help the families in the area get immediate assistance.

A Santa Barbara County jury held pipeline giant, Plains All American guilty in the 2015 California oil spill row. The coastal spill has been ranked the worst in the last 25 years in California. The pipeline operator released a statement which said that the company "accepts full responsibility for the impact of the accident”. The decision on the penalties to be imposed will come on December 13.

A huge fire broke out at the Vohburg Refinery in Germany, followed by a blast. The incident forced the authorities to evacuate the surrounding area inhabited by atleast 1,800 residents. The mishap at the 120,000 barrel per day (bpd) plant, part of the Bayernoil refinery complex, left 10 people injured. Varo Energy, Rosneft Deutschland, Eni Deutschland and BP Europe jointly own stakes of Bayernoil.

After the Indian Government’s announcement to ban single-use plastics, 19 states across India have enforced a complete ban on the use of plastics. But the implementations have been, reportedly, facing challenges and are partially obeyed because consumers cannot find any cheap replacement of the same. The Government plans of a plastic-free country by 2022 but the main problem lies in the disposal of plastic wastes.

E&P firm, EnQuest yesterday received a HSE notice, following failure in safely lifting and moving a rise that, reportedly, missed workers while dropping on the Magnus Platform. The notice claimed that EnQuest exposed staff to “serious risk”. The Magnus platform operates in the North Sea and has been into production since 1983. An EnQuest spokesperson confirmed the incident occurrence, stating that investigation is underway.

Oil supermajor Shell has been found violating the climate pollution rules in a plant at the site in Fife, Scotland. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SPEA) has fined the oil firm with £40,000, citing failure to fulfill condition 4 of Greenhouse Emissions Permit. Shell publicly apologized for the technical error, stating that environmental protection is one of their top priorities.

A ballistic missile fired at one of the Saudi Aramco facility by Iran-aligned Houthi rebels was intercepted by Saudi Arabia, according to a report by Saudi state television. An official at the supermajor assured Reuters that Aramco’s facilities are running normally and are safe. This comes days after the rebels in Yemen had fired a similar missile directed at the Saudi Air Force base in the area.

PNGRB is formulating safety regulations for LNG fuelled vehicles, as emphasized by it in the ninth bidding round for the City Gas Distribution (CGD) network. With this, the CGD companies could have LNG administering offices for trucks at their own stations. This would be a decent open door for original equipment makers who can plan and work on the LNG fuelled engines. The infrastructure work would begin post-2019 elections.