Offshore Oil and Gas Development: the Hibernia Project,
Grand Banks, Newfoundland and Labrador The Hibernia offshore oilfield was discovered in 1979. It is located
about 300 km east southeast of St. John’s, in 80 metres of
water on the Grand Banks. While government and communities generally saw the discovery of
commercial volumes of oil as promising, there was also concern and
apprehension about a wide range of social and economic issues, including
the possible impacts on population change, crime, inflation, traditional
industries, and the local culture and way of life. The operator, Mobil Oil Canada, initiated a multi-year program
of biophysical and socioeconomic studies (Table 1, Table 2)
and community information and consultation. The various studies and
surveys provided information that was used in the project Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS). The EIS described predicted socioeconomic
and environmental effects, positive and negative, resulting from
project construction and operation. It was subject to in-depth public
and technical scrutiny under the guidance of an appointed federal/provincial
public review panel in 1985. The project was officially approved
to proceed by regulators in 1986. The federal/provincial regulatory agency, the Canada-Newfoundland
Offshore Petroleum Board, issued Development Application Guidelines
in 1988. These have guided the assessment of all subsequent oil projects
and are still in effect. They reflect community concerns about Hibernia
and the approach adopted in addressing them. The operator has stated:
“The environmental and socioeconomic assessment and planning
process has (now) become the benchmark and standard for industrial
development in the Canadian frontier.” (Tsui, et al, 1998)”
While regulatory approval was given in 1986, financial and technical
uncertainties delayed project sanction and commencement until 1990.
During this time, communication and consultation continued between
the operator and two groups - the communities close to the green-field
offshore production platform construction site, and the fishing industry. Some of the communities’ concerns, and the associated analysis
and predictions in the EIS, review panel recommendations and C-NOPB
development approval conditions, were concerned with the prospective
benefits, such as local employment and business opportunities. Others
addressed such topics as potential in-migration, increased crime,
and the demands on local social services and infrastructure. The operator, government and communities put in place special mechanisms
and initiatives to address these issues during preparations for,
and over the six year life of, the platform construction project. While there was a sense even in the early days that “fish
and oil can work side by side,” the fishing industry nonetheless
expressed serious concern about disruption to fishing activity on
the Grand Banks from oilfield related vessel traffic and sea floor
debris. In the more confined fishing grounds of the platform construction
area, where traditional small-boat inshore fisheries took place,
there was even greater concern about possible loss of access to fishing
grounds, interference and damage to gear. A construction site Project Fisheries Agreement was negotiated
that guaranteed no loss of fishing income and provided operational
practices for both construction and fishing crews to enhance safety.
Inshore fishers also participated in a construction site environmental
effects monitoring program. The Hibernia platform was completed in mid-1997 and began producing
crude oil late the same year. Several assessments of the socioeconomic effects predictions in
the EIS have been made. An environmental effects monitoring program,
designed with input from regulators and the interested public, continues
offshore near the Hibernia platform and a petroleum industry/fishing
industry liaison group has been established. It has been stated that the Hibernia project’s environmental
and socioeconomic assessment and planning process is the benchmark
- was it and/or is it also integrated management?
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