ADVERTISEMENT

37 Years in the Making: Exxon Opens Tap on Offshore Canada Cache

37 Years in the Making: Exxon Opens Tap on Offshore Canada Cache

(Bloomberg) -- On the eve of the most momentous OPEC gathering in at least three years, Exxon Mobil Corp. turned on the spigot on an oil field that’ll pump a supertanker worth of crude every two weeks.

Exxon announced Tuesday the commencement of production from the 700 million-barrel Hebron field off the coast of Canada’s Newfoundland and Labrador province. The field, first discovered in 1980, will at its peak produce 150,000 barrels of oil daily.

The new source of supply hits the market as OPEC and allied producers including Russia and Mexico gather in Vienna to discuss an extension of supply caps that have been eroding a worldwide glut that triggered the worst market crash in a generation. Representatives of cartel members such as Ecuador and Kuwait on Tuesday indicated an extension of the cuts beyond their March expiration is almost a done deal.

Exxon, operator and owner of a 35.5 percent stake in Hebron, began pouring concrete for the development four years ago. Its partners in the investment include Chevron Corp., Suncor Energy Inc., Statoil ASA and Nalcor Energy-Oil and Gas Inc.

To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Carroll in Houston at jcarroll8@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net, Joe Carroll

©2017 Bloomberg L.P.