Chevron Corp. has begun demanding some employees receive vaccines against Covid-19 and is evaluating the mandates of its entire workforce as the oil and gas industry has trouble raising infections, according to people familiar with the matter.
The second largest oil company in the United States is one of the first major oil and gas producers to implement requirements such as the industry struggling with unvaccinated field workers. Outbreaks of the virus have recently affected operations in key locations such as the offshore platforms of the Gulf of Mexico and the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, several industry executives said.
Chevron now requires expatriate employees, workers traveling internationally and employees of U.S.-flagged ships to receive vaccines, company spokesman Braden Reddall said. It will also require the vaccination of marine workers in the Gulf of Mexico and ground support personnel before Nov. 1, he said. The requirements cover thousands of employees.
“Chevron is committed to protecting the health of our people and vaccines are the strongest safeguard against this virus,” Reddall said.
San Ramon, California-based company executives are also evaluating the viability of mandates for each Chevron business unit and could implement these requirements more broadly through its nearly 47,000-member workforce, according to said people familiar with the matter.