Hibernia celebrates 20 years since first oil

Twentyyears ago today, against a typically grey St. John's sky, then premier Brian Tobinand Hibernia president Harvey Smithaddressed a crowd of hopeful Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

"We've done it," Smith told a cheering crowd. "We have first oil."

The crowdclapped and threw streamers into the air.

And with that, Newfoundland and Labrador was officially in the oil business. First oil was pumping atHibernia, the province's first offshore oil project.

Hibernia Then and Now

7 years ago

Duration 1:03

Twenty years after Hibernia drew its first barrel of oil, workers look back on the province's first oil project.

In a province still reeling from the cod moratorium a few years before, that first trickle of black gold from the gravity-based platform 315 kilometres southeast of St. John's carried big expectations and big dreams.

"I believe that Newfoundland and Labrador will enter the next millennium, the next decade, the year 2000, very much as a province that is showing significant and strong growth, and will come out of the next decade very close to being a have province of Canada," said Tobin, at the time.

Tobin wasn't too far off: thanks to oil riches from Hibernia, and then from the Terra Nova andWhite Rose fields, the province was officially off equalization and safely into "have province" status in 2009, under Danny Williams and the PCs.

• Have-not is no more: N.L. off equalization

In 1986, Hibernia was only expected to have 520 million barrels of oil, and had once beenforecast to run dry sometime between 2015 and 2017.

But it surpassed all expectations: on Dec. 22, 2016, one billion barrels of oil had been pumped from the field, with more tocome.

• Hibernia pumps 1 billionth barrel of oil in Newfoundland's offshore

The Hibernia project now employs more than1,500 people and contributes millions of dollars every year to Newfoundland and Labrador's coffers, and is expected to for another 15 to 20 years.

The development of satellite fields like theHibernia Southern Extension and Ben Nevis reservoirs has allowed Hibernia to continue pumping crude beyond its projected lifespan.

The project was built at a cost of nearly $6 billion, and according to the provincial government, the value of the oil produced up to a year ago was more than $65 billion.

First oil at Hibernia

7 years ago

Duration 2:14

From November 1997, Deanne Fleet reports on a milestone in N.L.'s oil industry