Offshore Medical Services - A System of Health Care Delivery to Remote Areas
Authors: Ajayi P.A. 
Published: December 2007

P.A. Ajayi, SPE

Chevron Nigeria Limited has most of its oil and gas exploration and production operations offshore and a smaller proportion on the swamp and on land, The Escravos tank farm is the operational headquarters for the Escravos operations which has 5 offshore living platforms and 2 living platforms on the swamp. The total average resident population on all these platforms is 260. Prior to June 1992, all ill or injured persons on any of these locations had to be flown by helicopter to the Escravos tank farm on which is located a well equipped industrial clinic. This involved a lot of flight time and lost work time and the attendant cost was high. A new system of health care delivery has now been introduced whereby a well trained and experienced nurse visits these offshore locations to attend to employees health needs right on their platforms. A staff physician also visits these locations at regular intervals. This system has been found to be cheaper, more effective and more acceptable to the employees living on these platforms. This paper describes the system of health care delivery, the commonly encountered health problems and relevant statistics. Plans to introduce a similar system to the Eastern operations of Chevron Nigeria is also discussed.

Introduction

Chevron Nigeria Limited is one of the leading oil and gas exploration and producing companies in Nigeria and operates a joint venture partnership with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. Its operational area spans 5178 kilometers offshore and 2589 kilometers onshore in the Niger delta area and recently the search for oil has spread beyond this defined area of operation into land areas in the middle belt of the country.

Chevron Nigeria obtained its first prospecting license in 1961 and made its first offshore oil discovery in 1963 (the first in the country). Presently there are 23 oil fields of which 12 are offshore, 9 are in the swamp and 2 are on land. The average daily production is over 370,000 barrels, of which about 75% is from offshore locations, about 20% from the swamp and only about 2-3% from land locations. Thus most of the oil and gas exploration and production activities take place offshore. The offshore locations are accessible by helicopter whereas the swamp locations can be accessed both by helicopter and by sea but not by land.

For administrative and logistic purposes, these fields are grouped into 2 - the Escravos operations with its headquarters at the Escravos Terminal and the Eastern operations with its headquarters at Port Harcourt, The Escravos operations has 7 living platforms - 5 offshore and 2 on the swamp with an average resident population of about 260 at any given time, The Eastern operation has 4 living platforms - 1 offshore, 2 on the swamp and 1 on land, with an average resident population of 37. The total resident population on all platforms put together is about 300. The distribution of employees on these platforms and the average flight time from the operational headquarters are shown on Tables 1 and 2.

The Escravos Terminal itself has a resident population of about 550 and has all the facilities of a small community - living blocks, mess halls, recreational facilities, an airport, a dock and a well equipped base clinic.

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