Saturday, October 04, 2014

Ebola Outbreak in Africa Affects Operations of Exxon Mobil
Nigerian Guardian newspaper.
By Yvette Sung on Sat, 10/04/2014 - 13:02

Ebola outbreak in West Africa has hampered drilling plans of the Exxon Mobil at various locations. As per records, the fatal virus has killed at least 3,338 people in West Africa.

Exxon Mobil, the world's biggest energy company which has operations in Nigeria and Liberia, said that the company is fluctuating between gains and losses as some of its oil and gas activities in West Africa are hindered by the Ebola outbreak.

Rex Tillerson, company's chief executive officer, told in a news conference, "We had some drilling plans for some blocks offshore West Africa in Liberia. We have to look at when it would be prudent to resume operations there because you do have to have shore-based support".

Rex organized the news conference to announce $18-million grant to three Houston, Texas, hospitals. Earlier this week, first case of Ebola was diagnosed in the United States, in Dallas, Texas.

In addition, the company has advised its employees not to travel to the countries that are directly affected by the lethal disease. They are also taking several precautionary measures related to workers' families, said Rex.

The virus has widely spread in Liberia and has also hit Sierra Leone and Guinea. Liberia officials stated that they will take a serious action against the man who is responsible for carrying Ebola to the United States for lying on a health form.

Screening for fever is being done for patients leaving Liberia and they are also asked about any possible contact with any Ebola-affected person. When Thomas Eric Duncan, the US Ebola affected patient, was questioned by the Associated Press that whether or not he had any contact with an infected person, he said "no".

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Friden on Thursday confirmed that Duncan did not show any signs of fever when he was screened at the airport. CDC also reported that Duncan did not exhibit any symptoms of Ebola infection until four days after arriving in the United States.

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