World Geography 3202 CASE STUDY : Hibernia and Beyond Name: ______

Today Newfoundland and Labrador is home to three major offshore oil exploration projects including Hibernia, Terra Nova, and White Rose with a fourth called Hebron set to begin operations in 2017. Oil extraction and oil support activities has been quite lucrative, valued at nearly $4.5 billion (CDN) in 2009. The province has also been able to profit directly, as it holds an 8.5% stake in the Hibernia project and an additional 4.9% ownership stake in the upcoming Hebron oil field project. The Hibernia oil field is 315 kilometres east-southeast of St. John's, in 80 m of water. The production platform is the world's largest oil production platform and consists of a 37,000 t integrated topsides facility mounted on a 600,000 t gravity base structure. The platform was towed to its final site, and 450,000 t of solid ballast were added to secure it in place. The GBS contains production storage tanks for 1.3 million barrels of oil in an 85 m high caisson, The oil field was discovered in 1979, and is located in the northwest sector of the Jeanne d'Arc Basin. The oil’s source rock is Hibernia sandstone which are at a depth of 3720 m, and are structurally trapped in a faulted anticline.

As the Hibernia field was located in an inhospitable environment consisting of rogue waves, fog, icebergs and sea ice, hurricanes, and nor'easter winter storms, engineering analyses determined that the most appropriate drilling platform would be in the form of a gravity base structure. The Hibernia GBS sits on the ocean floor with its topsides extending approximately 50 m out of the water. The platform acts as a small concrete island with serrated outer edges designed to counter icebergs. The GBS was constructed in Bull Arm and the "topsides" production and living quarters was attached to the base while floating in Bull Arm, before the integrated unit was towed out to the actual Hibernia field. During peak construction in 1995, 5800 workers were employed. Many of these people received training in construction management and high technology. Others received an upgrading of their skills as a result of this project. Oil production commenced on November 17, 1997 and continues today.

Hibernia Production The Hibernia offshore oil field is owned jointly by Estimated oil in 2,100 million barrels ExxonMobil Canada (33.125%), Chevron Canada place Resources (26.875%), Suncor (20%), Canada Hibernia Recoverable oil 704 million barrels Holding Corporation (8.5%), Murphy Oil (6.5%) and Producing Hibernia, Ben StatoilHydro Canada Ltd (5%). formations Nevis/Avalon

The Hibernia platform requires a considerable amount of drilling services. As of January 1, 2007, over 50 development wells have been successfully drilled from the platform. A dedicated fleet of shuttle tankers continuously operates between the platform and an onshore transshipment facility at Whiffen Head, adjacent to the Come By Chance Refinery. The platform always has at least one logistics support vessel in attendance, which shuttle supplies and provides on-station emergency support. These support vessels are also tasked during the spring and summer months to tow small and medium-sized ice bergs which might collide with the platform, even though the GBS is engineered to withstand such a hit. The crew consists of 280 people who spend 3 weeks on the platform and three weeks on land, flown to and from the platform by helicopter. The platform has even been used to refuel CH-149 Cormorant search and rescue helicopters on long-range missions in the North Atlantic.

The Hebron oil field is located offshore Newfoundland and Labrador in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin 350 kilometres southeast of St. John's. The field was first discovered in 1980, and is estimated to produce more than 700 million barrels of recoverable resources. Hebron will be developed using a stand-alone concrete gravity based structure (GBS). The GBS will consist of a reinforced concrete structure designed to w