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January 11, 1999
(Industry, Trade and Technology)


Future very promising for Bull Arm fabrication facility

Industry, Trade and Technology Minister Sandra Kelly said recent comments by a union leader regarding the Bull Arm offshore fabrication facility greatly misrepresent the current situation at Bull Arm and its future potential. 

Derm Cain, president of the International Union of Operating Engineers, (Local 904) issued a news release January 8 stating the future of Bull Arm is "very bleak". Kelly said Cain's comments are absolute nonsense.

"Mr. Cain's union is not a member of the Petroleum Development Association (PDA) which represents workers at the site, and he has no integral involvement with operations at Bull Arm," Kelly said. "The collective agreement at Bull Arm is between the site operator, PCL, and the PDA."

Kelly said PCL did not "buy" the Bull Arm site for $1 in 1996, as Cain claims. The site was leased to PCL for $1 per annum to pursue Terra Nova work. The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador still owns the Bull Arm site.

Kelly said PCL did not take over the Bull Arm site in 1996 to solely pursue an "upper turret" component for the vessel that will be used to produce oil at the Terra Nova field. That is one of many contracts associated with the Terra Nova field that has been awarded during the construction phase, and is but a portion of the overall Terra Nova work.

"PCL is constructing two topsides modules, flare tower and components for the deck assembly for the Terra Nova project, and work at Bull Arm will not soon conclude as indicated by Mr. Cain," the minister said. "Bull Arm will be busy with Terra Nova work until the end of the year 2000. No work originally committed to the site has been lost and PCL is continuing to competitively seek other opportunities associated with Terra Nova."

Kelly added that Bull Arm will also be the site for the installation, hookup and commissioning of all topsides modules.

Kelly said there are approximately 150 people currently working on these modules at Bull Arm, and the project will see an employment peak of approximately 700 jobs at the site this summer, not a further 100 as cited in some media coverage on Mr. Cain's comments.

"For Mr. Cain to suggest that the Bull Arm site is in jeopardy is absolutely ludicrous," Kelly said. "We strongly question Mr. Cain's motives on this issue, as Bull Arm will be busy with the Terra Nova project for the next two years."

Kelly said while government will continue to aggressively pursue new business partnerships and development opportunities for the offshore sector and the province as a whole, Newfoundland and Labrador's offshore petroleum future remains bright and is poised for decades of expansion.

Despite low oil prices, and a global decrease in offshore oil activity, Petro-Canada will expend a large percentage of its $1.1 billion capital program on exploration and development of its most attractive offshore initiatives in 1999.

"Up to seven new exploratory wells will be drilled off Newfoundland and Labrador this year," Kelly said. "Such is the potential of our offshore petroleum resources."

"Bull Arm remains a significant element of our offshore sector," she said. "In combination with the province's huge array of other offshore petroleum-related facilities, Bull Arm helps form a formidable inventory of infrastructure on which we are building a world-class industry."

Media contact: Doug Burgess, Director of Communications, Department of Industry, Trade and Technology, (709) 729-0050.

1999 01 11 5:20 p.m.


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