Covid-19 Strikes at East Siberian Field
Three workers at the Chayandinskoye gas field in eastern Siberia have been confirmed as having Covid-19, the operator Gazprom said April 14. The field is the sole supplier of gas to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline.
The workers have been moved to a hospital in the town of Lensk for treatment and their condition is stable. Production and processing operations at Chayandinskoye are continuing as normal, Gazprom said.
In a second statement, Gazprom said it had evacuated 23 people from the Chayandinskoye via a flight from Talakan in Yakutia to Noyabrsk in the Yamalo-Nenets region, after they showed symptoms of acute respiratory viral infection. Covid-19 was not mentioned in this statement. These workers will be examined at a hospital in Noyabrsk.
Gazprom is currently building facilities at Chayandinskoye in order to raise the field's production to its full capacity of 25bn m3/yr. The other gasfield that will supply the Power of China line is Kovyktinskoye, to the west of Chayandinskoye.