ExxonMobil launches project in Canada

Exxon Mobil Corporation, one of the largest U.S. energy companies, said Friday it will spend 14 billion U.S. dollars to produce oil off Canada's northeast coast. The Texas-based company expects the Hebron project to produce more than 700 million barrels of oil from about 92 meters deep of water off the coast of Canada's Newfoundland and Labrador. The move underlined how major oil producers were turning their attention to North America after years of searching for oil in the Middle East, Africa and other regions, analysts said. New drilling technologies allowed companies such as ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips to make major discoveries in shale formations in Canada and the Unite States, and these companies were increasingly turning their attention to fields of the continent's shores, they said. Production at the Hebron field is set to start in early 2017 and will be capable of churning out 150,000 barrels of oil per day, ExxonMobil said. "Hebron is one of several large-scale oil developments that ExxonMobil will bring on stream in the next five years," said Neil W. Duffin, president of ExxonMobil Development Company. "ExxonMobil will employ its expertise in Arctic development and project execution to develop this world-class resource in challenging operating conditions," he said. ExxonMobil will own a 36 percent stake of the Hebron project through its Canadian subsidiary. Other companies holding an interest in Hebron are Chevron, Suncor Energy, Statoil and Nalcor Energy Oil and Gas.