Hibernia pushes up maintenance shutdown

A maintenance shutdown at the Hibernia offshore oil platform will start later this month, seven months earlier than scheduled.

Production at the Hibernia field was cut substantially in January after a generator backfired.

Hibernia managers said Tuesday they had decided to accelerate a maintenance program that had been set for September.

The routine maintenance could last as long as a month.

The generator malfunction in early January caused production to drop from about 180,000 barrels of oil a day to about 110,000 barrels.

Hibernia, the first of three fields to go into production off Newfoundland's east coast, pumped first oil in 1997.

The maintenance is required for regulatory approval and recertification.