Oman’s PDO to Reduce Contractor Staff amid Virus Impact

Petroleum Development Oman, the Sultanate’s largest oil and gas producer, announced plans to reduce contractor staff on its projects in an attempt minimise the spread of the coronavirus.

"PDO in partnership with its contractors is exploring how to minimise COVID-19 contamination risk in our large engineering maintenance and construction projects, some of which will also experience material shortages, as global supply chains are increasingly constrained," it said.

"This review, which will include reducing contractor staffing levels, was taken after very careful consideration of potential exposure and quarantining requirements and we have now started detailed discussions with contractors to determine how best to deploy manpower resources and to limit the size and staff concentration in contractor camps."

PDO is 60 per cent owned by the Omani government, with Shell holding 34 per cent and Total SA and Partex Oil and Gas Group holding the rest.