ExxonMobil, the oil giant that also produces industrial lubricants for Mobil UK stockists, has announced that production has begun at its offshore Hebron field.
The field lies some 200 miles off the coast of Canada’s Newfoundland and Labrador province and is thought to contain over 700 million barrels of recoverable assets. At its peak, it is expected to pump 150,000 barrels a day, enough to fill a typical supertanker in just two weeks.
The Hebron field was first discovered 37 years ago in 1980, but the challenging engineering, construction, and startup process only began eight years ago. Speaking about the development, the president of ExxonMobil Development Company, Liam Mallon, said:
“The successful startup of the Hebron project demonstrates ExxonMobil’s disciplined project management expertise and highlights its ability to execute large-scale energy developments safely and responsibly in challenging operating conditions.”
The platform itself is based on a standalone concrete gravity-based structure (GBS) that rests on the seabed roughly 93 meters below the water. This reinforced concrete structure, which is 130 metres in diameter at its base and 122 metres tall, has been designed to hold up against the challenging environment, which can include icebergs, sea ice, and other meteorological and oceanographic conditions. The GBS will also be capable of storing up to 1.2 million barrels of crude oil.
While ExxonMobil operates the project through its ExxonMobil Canada Properties affiliate and holds a 35.5% stake, other partners in the venture include affiliates from Chevron, Suncor and Statoil.
