Exxon Mobil, Petro-Canada and Husky Energy won't need to evacuate personnel from oil platforms off the coast of eastern Canada after the U.S. agreed to postpone a planned rocket test near the area, Canadian Defense Minister Bill Graham said.

The U.S. Air Force agreed to an "indefinite postponement" of the planned Monday launch of the Titan rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., Graham told reporters in Ottawa yesterday. Canada wants the U.S to pick a new route for the test that's farther away from Newfoundland's Hibernia, Terra Nova and White Rose oil fields, he said.

The platforms are near a zone where part of the Titan's booster engine weighing 11 tons might fall, the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board said on its Web site.

The board had said the platforms would have to be evacuated because of the test. The postponement canceled evacuation plans, and production in the fields will continue uninterrupted, board spokeswoman Simone Keough said.