The Hibernia ail field was discovered in 1979. It is located 315 kilometres east south-east of St. John’s. The field may contain as much as two billion barrels of crude oil. Six hundred and fifteen million barrels should be recovered during the next 19 years.

The oil field is located in 80 metres of water. This shallow water allows the company to drill for oil using a drilling platform called a Gravity Base Structure (GBS). the GBS is made of steel and concrete. Similar platforms are now being used in the North Sea.

The GBS has a flat bottom and a round base. The base has a four-foot thick ice wall that will protect it from icebergs. A process called slip forming was used to construct the GBS.

There are compartments inside the concrete walls. Some of these compartments will be filled with iron ore to keep the rig from tipping over. Other compartments will be used as working areas. The GBS has four shafts which support the working platform. This platform is called the Topsides.

The Topsides platform will sit on top of the GBS. The platform contains drilling equipment and a living area for workers. The Topsides sections are called supermodules. One of these modules was built at the Bull Arm site. The others were built in South Korea and Italy. There are five smaller modules called Topsides-Mounted Structures. These modules include a boom, two lifeboat stations, a helicopter landing pad and two drilling derricks. When the rig is completed, it will weigh 1.2 million tonnes and stand 224 metres tall.

The Topsides will be moved to deeper water and placed on top of the GBS in 1997. The rig will then be towed to the Hibernia oil field.

com*part*ments - separate or divided section like rooms. grav*i*ty - the force that pulls things towards the center of the earth. mod*ule - a section that has a special use and can be removed. plat*form - a raised flat surface.

Did You Know?

The Hibernia oil field was created from the remains of plants and animals. These remains settled at the bottom of the ancient sea millions of years ago. Heat and pressure changes this organic material into oil and gas.

Oil fields can be as deep as 6,000 metres or more below the earth’s’s surface. Oil is found in pore spaces (holes) in sedimentary rocks. Porous rock that contains oil and gas is squeezed by the weight of the rock on top of it. This is why oil flows out of the rock and up to the surface when an oil well is drilled.

Amazing Facts

The Hibernia oil project is sometimes called the Hibernia Mega-Project. Mega means big and everything about Hibernia is mega.

The Gravity Base Structure is being built at Bull Arm near Come By Chance. The construction site covers 4,000 acres and has more that 12 kilometres of paved roads. A small town as been built for more than 3,400 people. It has water, sewer, electrical and emergency services. It also has a post office, convenience store, hair saloon, bank, fitness centre and a television station. There are more than 1,600 phone lines in service at Bull Arm. Chains are used to keep the GBS from moving. Each link weighs about 750 pounds.

The cafeteria seats 1,000 people. All meals are free of charge to Bull Arm residents. The monthly shopping list includes 13,000 dozen eggs, 16,000 pounds of potatoes, 28,000 loaves of bread, 19,000 pounds of steak, 30,000 litres of fresh milk and 2,500 cases of fruit. There are more than 120 food deliveries made to the cafeteria each month. Soup is cooked is six 100 gallon pots.