Oil workers pulled as hurricane advances

Category 2 storm set to track N.S., maybe Nfld.

HALIFAX— ExxonMobil removed some of its workers from offshore oil platforms Wednesday as hurricane Chris advanced toward Atlantic Canada.

The Category 2 storm, which was churning out winds in excess of 155 kilometres per hour, was expected to track south of Nova Scotia early Thursday before possibly making landfall in eastern Newfoundland later in the day.

ExxonMobil said in a statement that an unspecified number of non-essential employees was taken off the Sable Offshore Energy facilities, which are near Sable Island, about 300 km southeast of Halifax.

“We continue to monitor, but based on current forecasts we do not expect the storm to affect our offshore operations,” ExxonMobil spokesperson Merle MacIsaac said in an email, referring to the Sable project.

He said they typically have about 150 people at the combined facilities, with about 90 personnel remaining offshore after the removals.

BP Canada also said it has disconnected and moved the West Aquarius exploration drilling rig. Stacy O’Rourke, spokesperson with the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, said it’s not uncommon for operators to remove staff from their work sites and that they are required to have contingency plans in place for adverse weather conditions.

“It’s not unusual at all,” she said.

“Safety is paramount, so as a precautionary measure these steps were taken.”