The following table provides a sequential list of events that were important to the discovery and development of the Hibernia oil field.
Hibernia Development Milestones
Reference: Verrill, A.E. 1878. Occurrence of fossiliferous Tertiary rocks on the Grand Banks and Georges Bank, American Journal of Science, Ser. 3, V 1, 323-324.
Reference: Press, F. and Beckman, W.C. 1954. Geophysical investigations in the emerged and submerged Atlantic Coastal Plain: Part VIII, Grand Banks and adjacent shelves, Geological Society of America Bulletin, V 65, 299-313.
Three dives were completed on the Virgin Rocks by H.D. Lilly of Memorial University of Newfoundland & Labrador using scuba.
Reference: Lilly, H.D. 1965. Submarine examination of the Virgin Rock area, Grand Banks, Newfoundland: preliminary note, Geological Society of America Bulletin, V 76, 131
These first permits covered 13.5 million acres. Federal Exploratory Permits issued in 1965 and 1967 each had terms of six years with rights to extend another six years by consecutive one-year periods.
Program Number 8620-M3-4E
This second set of permits covered an additional 3.5 million acres
The acreage exchange involved 11 million acres of MOCAN's Grand Banks block and Gulf's Mackenzie Delta and Beaufort Sea blocks
Amoco Imperial Murre G-67
268 barrels oil per day, 310 API gravity, 200 mcf/d gas from Mobil Gulf Adolphus 2K-41, the fourth well in Jeanne d'Arc Basin and second well drilled offshore Newfoundland & Labrador by MOCAN and Gulf
This was created to provide technical expertise and to develop and enforce provincial oil and gas policy and regulations
Egret Member of the Rankin Formation drilled at Amoco Imperial Skelly Egret K-36, the fifth well in Jeanne d'Arc Basin
Resource: Swift, J.H. and Williams, J.A. 1980. Petroleum source rocks, Grand Banks area. In: Miall, A.D. (Ed.) Facts and Principles of World Petroleum Occurrence, Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 6, 567-588.
Mobil Gulf Adolphus D-50
From 1970 to 1978 MOCAN's 17 million acre land position had been reduced to 6.4 million acres by high grading the most prospective areas. The four SRPs each covered about 1 million acres and were issued with initial terms of three years. In accordance with 1977 amendments to the Canada Oil and Gas Land Regulations, a well had to be drilled on each of the four SRPs. The four SRPs were extended by a year on January 15, 1981 and again on January 15, 1982.
Chevron agreed to operate a well to be drilled into the Lower Cretaceous and Upper Jurassic on the Hibernia prospect to earn 50% of MOCAN's 56.25% interest in six grids (about 525,000 acres). Gulf acquired an additional 6.25 % interest from Chevron under a separate agreement. Chevron farmed out 25% of its remaining 21.875% to Columbia Gas Development of Canada Ltd.
Discovery well Chevron et al.
800 BOPD, 320 API and 0.2 Mmcf/d gas on openhole test of Upper Jurassic sandstone
This well discovered a thick oil-bearing interval of Ben Nevis and Avalon sandstones, though the Hibernia Formation was water-bearing at this location.
In January 1980, it was reported that subsequent drillstem tests indicated a total capacity of 20,000 BOPD. This made Hibernia P-15 the most productive oil well in Canada to date according to GSC Paper 92-8.
This program allowed for a refund of up to 80% of the costs of frontier exploration for companies with sufficient Canadian ownership.
G-55 drilled a thick interval of Ben Nevis and Avalon sandstone in a structurally high location alongside the basin-bounding Murre Fault.
This survey was shot in two parts: 1980 and 1981.
This act provided for the issuance of exploration agreements or provisional leases on all previously held permits or Special Renewal Permits (SRP).
It states that Coastal States have exclusive rights to explore and exploit the natural resources of the seabed and its subsoil within a 200 nautical mile (370 kilometre) exclusive economic zone or to the limit of the continental shelf where it extends beyond 200 nautical miles. According to the Convention, the continental margin consists of the seabed and subsoil of the shelf, the slope, and the rise.
The new exploration agreement covering the Hibernia discovery (EA 195) covered 36,436 hectares (90,090 acres) and had a term of 29 months. EA 195 required drilling of one delineation well and one exploration well, a Hibernia Environmental Impact Statement (to be completed by November 15, 1984) and a Hibernia Development Plan/Canada Benefits Plan (to be completed by June 15, 1985). The drilling requirements were satisfied by Hibernia B-27 and Mara M-54.
The question was first referred to the Newfoundland Court of Appeal on February 18, 1982.
This was the ninth delineation well drilled following the P-15 discovery well.
Areal extent of 18,745 hectares (187.45 km2)
Mobil submitted these Plans on September 15, 1985
This statement established in principle the fiscal and financial terms applying to the Hibernia Project and specified certain undertakings on the part of the Hibernia partners concerning construction of the topside facilities and execution of design work for the project.
Reference: C-NLOPB Decision 97.01
Resource: Reported in a September 14, 1988 newspaper article
HMDC was formed to design, construct, install, and operate the Hibernia drilling and production platform, as well as being responsible for all reservoir management activities.
PL 1001
This Update proposed modifications to the platform topsides facilities, support vessel fleet configuration, and the location of the construction site for the Gravity Base structure in Bull Arm, Trinity Bay. It was conditionally approved by the C-NLOPB in August 1990.
Gulf was still required to fund its 25% until a total of $1 billion had been spent on project.
The M-10 Process Module and the M-50 Living Quarters/Service Module were built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea, while the M-30 Mud Module and the M-40 Utility Module were built by Belleli s.p.a. in Italy
The government shares are held by the Canada Hibernia Holding Corporation. The C-NLOPB was formally notified by HMDC on March 29, 1993.
Additionally, StatoilHydro Canada Ltd. received 15% in the Terra Nova development and 30% of Petro-Canada's interests in all Significant Discovery Areas in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin. Petro-Canada received 9% in the Veslefrikk field and 7.5% in the Njord field as announced in a July 5, 1996 news release.
In addition, Petro-Canada received 9% in the Veslefrikk field and 7.5% in the Njord field.
Approved in March 1997.
Reference: C-NLOPB Decision 97.01
The completed platform was 224 metres high, equivalent to a 75 story building. It weighed almost 600,000 tonnes at the time of mating.
B-16 2 spud three days later
First oil production from Hibernia B-16 1 well; one month ahead of schedule.
Rate attained over a 24-hour period
840,000 barrels of oil shipped on the MT Kometik (13,3335 m3 gross). Loading started on December 21, 1998.
Whiffen Head transshipment terminal received 846,000 barrels oil gross load (134,531 m3). 169,000 barrels (26,869 m3) of this load was later sent to the Come-by-Chance refinery.
8,485 m. measured length, surpassing records set by Hibernia B-16 5 and B-16 10Z.
The final total depth makes it the longest well in Canada and in the top 10 longest wells in North America.
The milestone represents an amount higher than originally expected when the field started production in 1997.