Exclusive: Brazil battles dozens of coronavirus cases on offshore oil rigs

By Marta Nogueira and Gram Slattery

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - There have been 126 confirmed cases of the coronavirus among oil and gas workers in Brazil, including 74 people who were recently on offshore oil platforms, industry regulator ANP told Reuters on Tuesday, revealing an outbreak far worse than previously thought.

The regulator said via email that as of Monday evening there were another 897 suspected cases of coronavirus in the industry.

The ANP released the information after Reuters requested comment regarding an internal document from state-run oil firm Petrobras seen by Reuters.

That document showed Petrobras recorded 59 suspected coronavirus cases and 19 confirmed cases among employees and subcontractors in one deep-sea oil basin last week.

All 19 confirmed cases were located on one ship operated by Japanese oil services firm Modec Inc, according to the document. The suspected cases were spread among a dozen offshore and nearby coastal facilities, including 11 suspected cases at a platform in the prolific Lula oilfield.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the company is formally known, said in a statement that the company does not publicize coronavirus cases in order to protect the privacy of employees and their families.

The firm added that it had taken stringent measures to protect offshore workers from the virus. Those include a seven-day quarantine and monitoring periods before they embark, as well as evacuation of any offshore workers with respiratory issues, whether or not they appear to be coronavirus-related.

Modec also declined to release coronavirus statistics, citing privacy concerns. It said it quickly evacuated all employees after a worker was determined to have the coronavirus, and that it had adopted a series of measures to ensure worker security, including testing all workers before they go aboard.

The previously undisclosed ANP figures and documentation on Petrobras operations in the Santos Basin, which is responsible for several hundred thousands barrels per day of oil production, reveal the scope of contagion at Brazil's offshore facilities.

Although the immediate impact on production has been modest, the skeletal staffing has begun to stall development in some of the world's most promising offshore oil fields, adding to uncertainty in Brazil's energy sector as global demand dries up.