Welcome to the Hibernia Enhanced Oil Recovery Laboratory in Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Memorial’s faculty, students and staff engage in research and creative activities of a scholarly nature. Memorial has a number of research centres and institutes that are focused on a variety of issues relevant to the province and beyond such as cold ocean engineering, marine science, social and economic development, and many more. In 2011, Senate adopted the Research Strategy Framework to foster a more vibrant and expansive culture of scholarly inquiry at Memorial and face the challenges of the 21st century.

To support research and identify new ways to optimize oil recovery, the Research & Development Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador (RDC) and the Hibernia Management and Development Company Ltd. (HMDC) invested $1.635 and $1.7 million respectively for the creation of a state-of-the-art enhanced oil recovery research facility at Memorial University's St. John's campus. In 2012, Hibernia Management and Development Company Ltd. (HMDC) invested further $11.8 million in laboratory equipment and research for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), enabling a new area of research in the province for the first time.

"We are working with the university to develop enhanced oil recovery research capacity and capability in the province," said Jamie Long, president, HMDC. "Our ultimate goal is to increase oil recovery offshore Newfoundland and Labrador."

EOR refers to techniques that can be used to increase the amount of crude oil extracted from an oil field. Advanced EOR methods are not currently in use in the Newfoundland and Labrador offshore industry.

The new laboratory equipment will be used to examine various EOR techniques in the context of application to Newfoundland's harsh offshore environments. EOR implementation is complex, and successful applications will require significant laboratory research and field testing. The research project represents a significant addition to Memorial's capability in upstream oil and gas technology.