Natural Resources
November 9, 2016

Sustaining Offshore Exploration

Results of Calls for Bids Shows Optimism for the Province's Offshore

Today, the Honourable Siobhan Coady, Minister of Natural Resources, announced that significant exploration opportunity exists in the province's offshore as evidenced by the results of Call for Bids in the Eastern Newfoundland Region and in the Jeanne d'Arc Region, both located in the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area.

"We are optimistic about today's successful calls for bids in our province's offshore. Overall there is a total work commitment of close to $758 million and eight successful bidders - three of which are new to our offshore: Hess Canada Oil and Gas; Noble Energy Canada; and Delek Group (Navitas Petroleum Ltd. and DKL Investments Ltd.). Also, of the eight parcels awarded, we are pleased that four are in the newly identified West Orphan Basin, while two are in the Flemish Pass Basin and two are in the Jeanne D'Arc Basin. This calls for bids is impressive in the current global environment and we look forward to continued exploration and development in our offshore for decades to come."
- The Honourable Siobhan Coady, Minister of Natural Resources

The Calls for Bids by the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB) consisted of 16 parcels of land totaling over 3.3 million hectares. There are 13 parcels located in the Eastern Newfoundland Region and 3 parcels in the Jeanne D'Arc Basin. Additional information on the Calls for Bids is available on the C-NLOPB's website at www.cnlopb.ca .

Offshore Newfoundland and Labrador has been undergoing one of the most comprehensive data acquisition programs in the world today. Through the integration of multiple surveys a new Lower Tertiary play trend has been identified in the West Orphan Basin. This newly identified prospectivity resulted in Beicip Franlab's independent resource assessment identifying the in place resource potential of 25.5 billion barrels of oil and 20.6 trillion cubic feet of gas covering the 2016 License Round area.

The play trend contains geology similar to slope and deepwater regions offshore Brazil. One of the key prospects in the area has similar characteristics to Brazil's Marlim Field. This newly identified prospect has been named "Cape Freels", which is the closest point of land to the play trend on the island of Newfoundland.

The structure of the scheduled license round system allows parcels not taken in previous rounds to be offered in subsequent calls in that region and, as a result of this process parcels in the Flemish Pass Basin were up for bid again this year. This process has resulted in further work commitments in the area.

QUICK FACTS

• Significant exploration opportunity exists in the province's offshore as evidenced by the results of Call for Bids in the Eastern Newfoundland Region and in the Jeanne d'Arc Region, both located in the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area.
• Overall there is a total work commitment of close to $758 million and eight successful bidders - three of which are new to our offshore.
• Of the eight parcels awarded, four are in the newly identified West Orphan Basin, while two are in the Flemish Pass Basin and two are in the Jeanne D'Arc Basin.
• A group led by BP Canada Energy Group, Hess Canada Oil and Gas and Noble Energy Canada was awarded licenses in the area of the newly discovered play trend in the West Orphan Basin.
• The discovery of the play trend was presented by Nalcor Energy - Oil and Gas at the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) International Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas last month.

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Media contact:

Lesley Clarke Media Relations Manager Department of Natural Resources 709-729-5777, 699-2910 lesleyclarke@gov.nl.ca

2016 11 09                              5:45 p.m.