In an exclusive interview with Oil Review Africa, Bayo Ojulari, managing director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Ltd. (SNEPCo), discussed how the company has so far managed one of the most disruptive periods in living memory and lessons that can be taken forward from the experience
Speaking about SNEPCo’s quick response to prevent outbreaks of the coronavirus pandemic among its employees, Ojulari commented, “SNEPCo reacted quickly implementing a number of measures including working from home and, more specifically, a combination of controls for both onshore and offshore operations. This is built on the principle that dealing with pandemics requires multiple solutions, not just one solution. On the preventive side we talk about hygiene, social distancing, testing, logistics, etc. We enforced preventive measures such as making sure before people go into quarantine and are observed and tested at least twice for COVID-19 before going offshore - providing an additional check on the overall health status of our staff. On the response side we have, for example, made sure when people work they do so in a bubble. Today, we have designed dedicated locations to isolate people who fall ill, such that any suspected or real case of COVID-19 can be controlled in an effective and efficient manner."
"Due to the combination of controls, SNEPCo has recorded over nine months without any COVID-19 outbreaks at any of our facilities in Shell Nigeria. We have put in additional measures for independent spot checks that help ensure these controls are in place and are being complied with. We are very intimate with our employees and we do take regular feedback for continous improvement. For example, when the masks were introduced initially, people working on the Bonga topsides offshore found them very difficult to use while working. After listening to employees’ suggestions, we introduced shutter breaks, i.e. breaks after 30 minutes because they found it impossible to work for up to two hours for example with a mask. This has helped us to maintain staff commitment to our objective of zero COVID-19 incidents and I believe most of these practices are going to stay.”
How have SNEPCo employees adapted over this challenging year?
“SNEPCo has created an environment where everybody is a leader and a contributor. Because when you do that, people speak up. Senior leaders are often looked upon to provide solutions but the people in the front lines who are intimate with the work usually have most of the answers as they deal with the problems on a daily basis."
“SNEPCo has developed an environment where frontline workers make suggestions and the leaders provide support to them. This enables people to continually assess their environment for where they can drive continuous improvement by themselves. In SNEPCo, the frontline staff can confidently ask for anything they require to do the work safely and efficiently, it is a totally different mindset, very liberating, which I find to be inspiring,” Ojulari continued.
The full interview also discussed the use of riserless well intervention methods in West Africa, the positives and current inadequacies of the Petroleum Industry Bill, how Nigeria will return to pre-COVID-19 levels of production and more. The interview will be featured in Oil Review Africa Issue 3.
