MONTREAL, July 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — An oil platform off the Canadian island of Newfoundland was shut down after the discharge of a mix of oil and water into the Atlantic Ocean.
“We decided to proactively shut down production on a temporary basis because it provides the most efficient way to resolve the issue,”
American energy giant ExxonMobil said in a statement.
The discharge occurred Wednesday morning during “routine activities related to removing water” from the storage cell, Scott Sandlin, president of the Hibernia Management and Development Company, said in a statement.
Hibernia — which opened for production in 1997 and is located about 315 kilometers east of St. John’s, Newfoundland — is jointly owned by Chevron, Suncor and Equinor (formerly Statoil) in addition to ExxonMobil, which holds the majority share.
The oil deposit below Hibernia — accessed via underwater drilling — is estimated to contain more than 1.2 billion barrels of oil.
HDMC has not specified how much oil was discharged, but it estimated the initial sheen was approximately 20 meters by 900 meters and said that it was dissipating.
A buoy was also sent out to track the sheen’s movement in the Atlantic, and a surveillance flight took place Wednesday afternoon.
In a later statement, ExxonMobil said that wildlife observers had been sent to the area, both in the supply vessel used to deploy the absorbent barriers and a separate vessel. One observer also participated in the surveillance flight.
No wildlife had been spotted in the affected area, the statement said. — NNN-AGENCIES
