The Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG) on Wednesday bemoaned the impact of COVID-19 on their operations, saying it had negatively impacted its business in the country.
The negative impact of the virus cut across business sectors and the shutdown by its customers during the peak of lockdown compelled the company to scale down operations, said Ed Ubong, the company’s managing director while addressing reporters in the southern city of Yenagoa in oil-rich Bayelsa.
Ubong said the pandemic was something that most people alive was yet to experience and hailed the decision of the federal government to grant waivers to the energy sector as essential service, saying it was the panacea to a total collapse.
“We have seen significant fluctuations in the price of oil for instance and several businesses have had to declare bankruptcy while some have had to cut down the scale of their operations. So, indeed, all of us have been affected,” he said.
On the impact of COVID-19 on SNG’s employees, Ubong said that since March, the staff of the company work from home.
“Majority of our staff work from home. A few staff in our field location bases (FLB) are those manning our facilities,” he said, adding these are critical staff required to be at the FLB just to ensure that the base and the facilities are safe.
The SNG is a fully owned Shell company incorporated in 1998 for the downstream distribution of gas to industries in Nigeria.
