The Financial Post reports in its Thursday, May 16, edition that Exxon Mobil, one of the world's largest oil firms, is preparing to drill an exploratory deepwater oil well about 500 kilometres off eastern Newfoundland. A Canadian Press dispatch to the Post reports that Exxon Mobil says the Stena Drillmax ship will drill a single well, which the company is calling Persephone, in about 3,000 metres of water. The well will be drilled in an area called the Orphan basin, north of the Flemish Pass basin, where Equinor is considering developing the country's first deepwater oil production operation, called Bay du Nord. Marine traffic websites indicate the Stena Drillmax is waiting in the harbour in Bay Bulls, N.L., about 30 kilometres south of St. John's. Exxon spokesman Margot Bruce-O'Connell could not provide an exact date for when the ship will set out to begin its work. The drilling is expected to take about four months. Equinor announced last year that it was putting Bay du Nord on hold for up to three years to figure out how to make it more affordable.