Those on the North Slope are sheltering in place during the COVID outbreak. ConocoPhillips has taken major steps today to prevent the COVID virus from reaching North Slope oil field workforce.
Effectively immediately, all business-critical North Slope personnel supporting ConocoPhillips operations (both contractor and ConocoPhillips employees) are extending their shift by two weeks.
All flights north for regularly scheduled shift changes have been cancelled for the next two weeks. The company will be working to arrange transportation off the Slope for those who cannot extend their stay.
All non-essential personnel will leave the North Slope at the end of their current shift and asked to work from home or placed on extended leave until further notice, as appropriate.
All Anchorage based employees have been encouraged to work from home unless their job requires they come into the office.
The company has also asked all workers who live or have traveled out of state and are scheduled to travel to the North Slope to self-quarantine for two weeks before the start of their next scheduled shift.
By self-quarantine, the company means that workers should not travel outside of Alaska and should comply with all measures issued by the CDC and State of Alaska. If circumstances change, the company may require stricter self-quarantine measures.
The company will be demobilizing its exploration drilling rigs (Doyon 142 and Doyon 141) when they finish the wells they are currently drilling. Doyon 142 will be redeployed at Kuparuk.
The company is not planning on shutting production. The only change for the time being this year is the reduced drilling activity in Kuparuk and Alpine that was announced as part of the ConocoPhillips news release issued on Wednesday addressing steps the company is taking in light of the drop in oil price.
The company does not have a timeframe for resuming business as usual, according to a company memo that said, “We will be monitoring conditions on a daily basis.”
“As we move through this, our priorities remain: protect the health and wellbeing of our workforce and their families; help mitigate the spread of the virus; and safely run our business,” the memo stated.
Thank you for reporting this situation as I’m sure a lot of people have concerns about a fuel shortage. Hoarding water is one thing but fuel can correct that with a little carelessness….
I still don’t get the TP hoarding though. Maybe we can learn what the tree huggers have been using…..
There’s not enough toilet paper for another shift…
Sphagnum Moss is the best!!! (not that I’m a treehugger, but I do claim a few yrs experience living “closer to nature” outside of Fbks in my younger days!) …but we have to wait a bit till it thaws! ??✌️
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