Som 45 offshore workers at Perenco’s Samaan and Poui Fields have tested negative for the Covid-19, however, they are to spend the remaining of the Christmas period in quarantine offshore under the guidelines of the Ministry of Health (MOH).
This was yesterday confirmed by Perenco via a statement issued last evening.
Guardian Understands that the workers will be given PCR tests on Monday for the second tie in a week.
One worker described the situation as “grim,” “It’s a grim Christmas for us having to be away from our families and our loved ones but this is the reality of the situation.
Meanwhile, some of the workers are claiming that they were told that they weren’t be given their respective salaries, “Some of us are out here 28 days and we were told that we will not be getting paid. We already have days inside and now we are in quarantine.”
The worker called on the Ministry of Labour to intervene, “We want the minister or other officials at the Labour ministry to contact Perenco regarding our salaries. We have our families to take care of and other financial commitments, loans and mortgages.”
However, in last evening’s statement, Perenco assured that “Perenco continues to adhere to all contractual obligations to its workforce. In addition, Perenco is working closely with all contractor companies to ensure that their employees are, and will be compensated for their quarantine period, whether onshore or offshore accordingly.”
“Perenco remains fully committed to the welfare of its employees and its contractor personnel. We are in continuous communication with the MOH and our contractor companies to ensure that all personnel affected by this situation return to their families as quickly as possible, while reducing the risk to themselves and their loved ones,” the statement added.
The Majority Recognized Union, the Banking Insurance and General Workers Union’s acting President, Mario Als wrote a letter to the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Roshan Parasram on Wednesday expressing anger and disappointment in him failing “to address the Union’s request for an investigation to be conducted to ascertain whether or not Perenco did take measures intended to ensure Covid-19 workplace protocols were observed prior to the outbreak on its platforms.”
Als reiterated: “Our earlier request for an investigation to be conducted, further, that its findings be made public, not only in the interest of transparency, but to ascertain any missteps that may have contributed to the outbreak and have measures implemented to avoid same in the future at Perenco and elsewhere.”
Als was responded too by Parasram via letter on yesterday’s date (December 23) who disclosed that he (Parasram) have already written to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries by letter dated December 21, 2020.
Parasram assured Als that he will “continue to work with the company’s physician and operating personnel as well as the Minister of Energy and Energy industries, which is the line ministry with oversight as it relates to these companies. All in a view to assure that the safety and health of all persons are given their highest priority.”
Minister of Health, Terrence Deyalsingh, in response to questions sent to him last week on the issue, said that he has already intervened and added that "We gave general directions and a very strong reminder to adhere to our protocols. The letters were also sent to the Minister of Energy and National Security. We also reminded all energy companies of their responsibilities."
To date close to 50 offshore workers have tested positive for Covid-19 and are currently in state quarantine at the UWI Debe campus, whilst close to 30 workers, who tested negative are at the Tradewinds Hotel for the next 14 days for observation purposes.
All operations at all platforms at the Teak, Samaan and Poui fields remain shutdown with just a skeletal staff of not more than ten workers dispatched to Mann the generators.