Galp has followed the progress of the COVID-19 pandemic since its outbreak and expansion outside China, articulating in early February a contingency plan with numerous measures that, first of all, ensure the safety of employees, the continuity of operations, the regular operation of critical infrastructures – such as the Sines and Matosinhos refineries in Portugal – and responding to the needs of consumers and clients.
With more than 2,000 teleworkers, operations are carried out without interruption in the service station network, gas distribution network, refining and other activities by the number of employees strictly necessary in these facilities so as not to compromise the various activities.
Galp escalated the formal monitoring mechanisms as required by reality, always in a logic of anticipation and prevention, with a sense of urgency heightened by everything that we have been seeing in countries where the pandemic broke out with the greatest impact. Galp also committed from an early age with numerous initiatives in favour of civil society in all countries affected by COVID-19 where it is present.
Portugal
Supporting the society:
- 30 ventilators for hospitals of the National Health Service (SNS)
- One month of free electricity and gas to more than 500 private social welfare institutions
- Fuel support for ambulances, medical emergency fleets and fire-department vehicles
- Support with fuel and goods for the Food Bank's Food Emergency Network
and the Vida e Paz Community, which supports homeless people
- Support to the Truck of Hope, a mobile COVID-19 testing lab which will be going around remote villages in the country to test the population
- Media space for the General Directorate of Health and the Ministry of Labor, Solidarity
and Social Security
- Fuel support for 200 caravans and motorhomes that will be available at hospitals
for health professionals to stay overnight
- Energy supply to a campaign-hospital set-up at the Super-Bock Rosa Mota Arena, in Porto
- Free energy to hotels that are offering rooms to health-service professionals, such as doctors, nurses or others
- Monetary support for the United by Portugal movement, an initiative of the Portuguese
Football Federation that raised more than €400,000 to acquire hospital supplies
- Support to the Portugal on Stage movement, an initiative of the Ministry of Culture to create a digital marketplace bringing together artists and corporate clients
Supporting our people and clients
- Suspension of supply cuts in the context of the pandemic, in alignment with Portugal’s
energy regulator
- Phased monthly payment plans for electricity or natural gas bills
- Maximum hygiene and prevention measures in the service station network; electronic and contactless payments, safety distance between customers
- Psychological support line for employees
Spain
- Dedicated services for haulers, such as special offers on light meals, shower and changing room facilities in Waze-identified stations
- Partnership with Uber Eats to provide and deliver home convenience goods from the service station network
- Donation of essential food baskets to families in need, in a partnership with Save the Children and Uber Eats
- Distribution of facial masks to transport operators, in partnership with Fenadismer (Spain’s Federation of goods-distribution companies
Mozambique
- Distribution of bottled gas to the 17 special prevention hospitals set up as a first line in the combat against the COVID-19 pandemic
- Awareness campaign in the service station network
- Support to Helpo ONG, for local health support to the communities of Nampula and Cabo Delgado
- Distribution of protective material and cleaning and disinfection products
Brazil
- Participation with the Brazilian Petroleum Institute in a funding campaign to deploy COVID-19 hospital facilities and testing kits, among other measures
Eswatini
- Supply of hand sanitizer to 16 medical clinics in remote and suburban locations throughout the country
For transparency reasons, Galp also published its contingency plans on the local website of all countries where it operates. The company is also evaluating numerous proposals for support or partnership in the countries in which it is present, allowing it to put its skills at the service of the communities at this unique time when we all depend on each other.
About Galp
Galp is an energy company committed to the development of efficient and sustainable solutions in its operations and in the integrated services it offers to customers. Our offer includes multiple forms of energy – from electricity produced from renewable sources to natural gas and liquid fuels. As a producer, we extract oil and natural gas from miles below the sea surface and we are the top Iberian producer of solar energy. We contribute to the economic development of the 11 countries in which we operate and to the social progress of the communities that host us. We are, therefore, leaders in our sector in the main global sustainability indexes. Galp employs 6,360 people.