The Project
Hebron is a heavy oil field estimated to have 400 - 700 million barrels of recoverable resources. The field was first discovered in 1981, and is located offshore Newfoundland and Labrador in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin 350 kilometres southeast of St. John's, the capital of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is approximately 9 kilometres north of the Terra Nova project, 32 kilometres southeast of the Hibernia project, and 46 kilometres from the White Rose project. The water depth at Hebron is approximately 92 metres.
The Hebron co-venturers
are: ExxonMobil Canada Properties (36%), Chevron Canada Resources
(26.7%), Suncor Energy Inc. (22.7%), Statoil Canada (9.7%) and
Nalcor Energy (4.9%).
On August 20, 2008, the Hebron co-venturers executed formal agreements with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.
ExxonMobil Canada Properties is the operator of the Hebron Project.
In March, the operator, on behalf of the co-venturers submitted a project description to the C-NLOPB. This document is required to initiate the federal environmental assessment process under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. Submission is the first step towards obtaining the required approvals.
Hebron is a major project that will deliver significant benefits to Canada, particularly to Newfoundland and Labrador: engineering, fabrication and construction, employment and training, research and development opportunities, along with significant royalty and tax revenues.
The Hebron field will be developed
using a stand-alone concrete GBS. The GBS will consist of a
reinforced concrete structure designed to withstand sea ice,
icebergs, and meteorological and oceanographic conditions at the
offshore Hebron Project Area. The preliminary GBS concept has a
single main shaft supporting the topsides, encompassing all wells,
and may also incorporate an inner, wet shaft to provide direct
access to any pre-drilled wells. The GBS concept will be further
refined/finalized during FEED and detailed design stages.