LAGOS, April 2 (Reuters) - Nigeria's Department of Petroleum
Resources ordered oil and gas companies on Thursday to reduce
their workforce and practice social distancing, tightening
measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
"All operators and their contractors are to ensure strict
compliance with relevant government directives and limit the
number of personnel at project/construction sites accordingly,”
said Sarki Auwalu, the head of the regulator, according to a
post on the department's official Facebook page.
On Sunday, the regulator ordered oil and gas companies to
reduce their offshore workforce and move to 28-day staff
rotations, also measures to curb the spread of the virus.
Companies operating in the country include oil majors Shell
RDSa.L and Chevron CVX.N .
Nigeria is keen to protect oil production, which provides
90% of much-needed foreign exchange. A coronavirus case on an
offshore rig could spread quickly among workers and have a
potentially devastating impact on production.
Health experts are concerned about the potential for a
widespread outbreak in Africa's most populous country, which has
about 200 million inhabitants. Nigeria has 174 confirmed
coronavirus cases and two deaths from the virus so far.
The country has shut international airports, closed all land
borders and locked down its two main cities, Lagos and the
capital Abuja, in an effort to contain the outbreak.