Where the oil is: drilling under some of the world’s toughest conditions
“We are a seafaring people who have for centuries lived from the sea; people risking their lives every day to provide for their families and contribute to this province. And yet we will never, ever be able to accept the loss of precious lives to the sea.” — Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams, on Thursday’s tragic loss of 17 lives in an offshore helicopter crash.
The east coast of Newfoundland is arguably one of the most hazardous places on Earth to put in a day’s work. Considered the foggiest place on the planet (as much as 80% of the time in the summer) temperatures range from –8C in winter to +20C in the summer. Winds howl. If you fall into the water your core body temperature cools in moments. And there are icebergs to dodge. But that’s where the oil is, so that’s where the workers must go.
Helicopters have provided the quickest way to get them there, and until Thursday’s fatal accident they had performed flawlessly. The choppers take workers to the three main development fields off Newfoundland: Hibernia, Terra Nova and White Rose. A new field, Hebron, is under development.
The three existing fields have produced nearly one billion barrels of oil in about a dozen years.
Hibernia
The production platform Hibernia is the world’s largest oil platform (in terms of weight) and consists of a topsides facility mounted on a gravity base structure. Inside the gravity base structure there are storage tanks for 1.3 million barrels of crude oil. Hibernia can produce as many as 230,000 barrels of oil a day, making it the most productive well in Canada. A dedicated fleet of shuttle tankers continuously operates between the platform and an onshore storage terminal adjacent to an oil refinery at Come By Chance. There are about 1.2 billion barrels of oil in the field, and Hibernia is expected to remain in production for at least another 25 years.
Terra Nova
Discovered in 1984 by Petro-Canada, the field is the second largest off Canada’s East Coast. Terra Nova is the first harsh environment development in North America to use a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, the Terra Nova FPSO. Production from the field began in January 2002 Petro-Canada believes there are about 440 million barrels of recoverable oil in the field and can output about 120,000 barrels a day.
White Rose
Discovered in 1984, the White Rose offshore oil field consists of both oil and gas pool. The oil pool contains an estimated 440 million barrels of recoverable oil. White Rose is the second harsh environment development in North America to use a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, the SeaRose FPSO. FPSOs are an attractive technology for deep-water projects. Production from the field began in November 12, 2005.
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