East Coast Catering wins major contract for Hibernia, Hebron

A contract tosupplycatering and accommodations services on both the Hibernia and Hebron drilling and oil production platforms has been awarded to East Coast Catering.

• St. John's catering company stung by departure of drill rigs

Sources say the contract begins July 1 and will further cement the company's dominancein Newfoundland's offshore.

East Coast Catering is asubsidiary of Compass Group, one of the largest providers of food and support services in the world.

It already provides similar services on the two other oilproducing platforms, Terra Nova and SeaRose.

Bonavista Food Services, owned byinternational giantSodexo, has provided the service atHibernia since 1998, employing about 50 people who earnbetween $80,000 and $122,000 annually.

It's expected that many of these people will find work with East Coast Catering, but it's uncertain how union contracts will be applied.

The current workers are represented by Unifor Local 2121. President Tom Kennedy could not be reached Tuesday, whilean official with East Coast Catering declined to comment when contacted by CBC News.

The contract, awarded last week,is unique in that it includes both Hibernia and Hebron, and includes everything from catering and accommodations management to laundry services and general housekeeping.

• Hebron project: ExxonMobil still committed to first-oil by 2017

Hibernia, located some 315 kilometres southeast of St. John's, has been pumping oil since 1997.

The Hebronplatform is under construction, withfirstoil scheduled in late 2017 in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin.

ExxonMobil is a majority shareholder in both projects.