A report looking at the expected benefits of the massive offshore Hebron oil development says the project will bring thousands of jobs and more than $20 billion to Newfoundland and Labrador.

Newly appointed natural resources minister Jerome Kennedy said he was impressed by the enormity of the project when he was briefed about it recently.

“We spend so much time talking about the Muskrat Falls Hydroelectric project and the cost of Muskrat Falls, but Hebron is actually a $7 billion capital cost project because there is the construction of a GBS [drilling platform] and during peak construction there will be 3500 jobs,” he said.

The report, prepared by Memorial University of Newfoundland economics professor Wade Locke, concludes the Hebron project will account for 55 per cent of the province’s oil production between 2016 and 2037.

The Hebron field is the next major oil-producing project in the Jeanne d’Arc Basin region off Newfoundland.

The Hebron Development Application is currently under review by the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board. It hired Miller Ayre to conduct an independent review of the Hebron application.