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The following is being distributed at the request of the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board: Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board
approves The Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board today announced that it has approved, with conditions, the Terra Nova Canada-Newfoundland Benefits Plan and the Terra Nova Development Plan. The board also released its Decision 97-02 report, which sets out these two approvals in detail. The Terra Nova oil field is located approximately 350 kilometres east-southeast of St. John's, Newfoundland, 35 kilometers southeast of the Hibernia oil field, in a water depth of 90 to 100 metres. The total recoverable oil reserves in the field are estimated by the board to be some 64 million cubic metres (400 million barrels). The proposed development project involves the production of oil using a steel ship-shaped floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel moored by means of a disconnectable turret. The FPSO vessel will be self-propelled and equipped with a dynamic positioning system to provide a high level of station-keeping capability. One or more conventional semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling units will drill the 36 or more wells through which oil will be produced, water injected, or gas re-injected. The wells will be drilled in clusters through manifolds installed in "glory holes". The glory holes will allow the manifolds to be located below the projected level of iceberg scour. Oil will be offloaded from the FPSO vessel to shuttle tankers that will transport the oil directly to market or to the trans-shipment facility being constructed at Whiffen-Head in Newfoundland's Placentia Bay. The proponents of the Terra Nova development project are Petro-Canada Ltd., Mobil Oil Canada Properties, Husky Oil Operations Limited, Murphy Oil Company Limited, Norsk Hydro AS and Mosbacher Operating Limited, Petro-Canada will operate the project on behalf of the other proponents. The board's decision follows comprehensive internal and public reviews of the Terra Nova development application. The public review included advance public information sessions by Petro-Canada, and public hearings by a review panel appointed jointly by the board and by environment ministers of the federal and provincial governments. The panel was comprised of Dr. Leslie Harris (Chair), Irene M. Baird, and Dr. Jon Lien. The board's acting chairman, John Fitzgerald, thanked the panel for the thoroughness of its review and said that its recommendations are reflected in the board's Decision Report. The board's decision respecting the Terra Nova Development Plan is a "fundamental decision" under the Canada-Newfoundland Atlantic Accord Implementation Acts that required and has received the approval of the Minister of Mines and Energy of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Minister of Natural Resources Canada of the Government of Canada. Decision 97-02 contains a total of 23 conditions, eight of which apply to the Terra Nova Canada-Newfoundland Benefits Plan and 15 of which apply to the Terra Nova Development Plan. The Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board is an independent joint agency of the Government of Canada and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador which draws its authority from mirror legislation passed both in the federal Parliament and in the provincial legislature. It is responsible for the regulation of petroleum-related exploration and development activity in the Newfoundland offshore area. This release, a backgrounder and the full text of Decision 97-02 are available on the board's Internet site at //www.cnopb.nfnet.com/ Contact: John G. Fitzgerald NOTE TO EDITORS: A copy of the Background document is also available by contacting the Communications and Consultation Branch, (709) 729-3610. 1998 01 15 11:40 a.m.
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