Hibernia is an oil field in the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately 315 kilometres (196 mi) east-southeast of St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, in 80 m of water.

In the mid-1980s, a new Conservative federal government under Brian Mulroney pledged that then Crown corporation Petro-Canada (now part of Suncor Energy) would be a lead player in creating a commercially viable offshore development on the Hibernia field.

[5] As the Hibernia field is located in an inhospitable environment consisting of rogue waves, fog, icebergs and sea ice, hurricanes, and nor'easter winter storms, engineering analyses determined that the most appropriate drilling platform would be in the form of a gravity base structure (GBS).

[4] A dedicated fleet of shuttle tankers continuously operates between the platform and an onshore transshipment facility at Whiffen Head, adjacent to the Come By Chance Refinery.

These support vessels are also tasked during the spring and summer months to tow small and medium-sized icebergs which might collide with the platform, even though the GBS is engineered to withstand such a hit.