Canada's key offshore oil field now 44 pct bigger

Canada's key offshore oil field now 44 pct bigger
Thu Jun 1, 2006 6:35 PM ET

CALGARY, Alberta, June 1 (Reuters) -

The Hibernia oil field off Canada's east coast is 44 percent larger than previously thought, the regulator that oversees the area said on Thursday.

The Hibernia field, owned by a consortium led by Exxon Mobil Corp. , is estimated to have had 1.244 billion barrels of proven and probable reserves, 379 million barrels more than earlier thought. However the board said 456 million barrels have been pumped from the field since 1998, leaving remaining reserves of 788 million barrels.

Hibernia, which produces about 200,000 barrels a day, is Canada's largest offshore oil field.

The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board, which regulates oil production in the waters off the province of Newfoundland, also boosted its estimate of the size of the Hebron, Ben Nevis and West Ben Nevis fields. The fields contain 731 million barrels of oil, an extra 317 million barrels, or 77 percent, larger than previously thought.

The board issued the new estimates in a release posted on its Web site.

The Hebron and Ben Nevis fields are owned by a consortium led by Chevron Corp. . However Chevron in April abandoned plans to develop the fields after it couldn't reach an agreement on royalties and other terms with the Newfoundland government.

Hibernia's owners include Exxon Mobil with 33.125 percent, Chevron with 26.875 percent, Petro-Canada with 20 percent, Murphy Oil Corp. with 6.5 percent, the federal government's Canada Hibernia Holding Corp. with 8.5 percent, and Norsk Hydro A/S with 5 percent.