White Rose

I rise in the House today to advise honourable members that on March 28, Husky Energy and Petro-Canada sanctioned this province�s third offshore petroleum project, White Rose.

This project will provide numerous benefits to the people of the province. Over its 10-15 year life, it is expected to generate over a 1,000 jobs, $500 million in royalties and a $6.8 billion increase in the province�s GDP.

The project proponents have committed to ensuring that 80 per cent of all production phase employment will occur in this province. Also, 80 per cent of the development phase work that can reasonably be completed in this province, is expected to take place in Newfoundland and Labrador. Provincial participation in the strategically important areas of project management and engineering, as well as topsides fabrication and installation, will be impressive. We will play a substantially greater role in these critical areas than we did going into the Terra Nova Project. This is in keeping with our goal of building stronger local capabilities in the offshore industry with each successive project.

Government expects that the White Rose project will also increase the demand for local supplies and services, creating new benefits and opportunities for our business community. Our skilled workers will continue strengthening their abilities, creating more opportunities for attracting future work to the province and new infrastructure needed to attract and encourage new development in the province will be constructed and utilized.

This is also a very positive announcement for the Marystown Shipyard. As most of you now know, Peter Kiewit and Sons have recently taken over ownership of the yard. Also, Aker Maritime Kiewit, a joint venture between Peter Kiewit and Sons and Aker Maritime of Norway, has been awarded the topsides fabrication contract for the White Rose project. This means that the shipyard at Marystown will play a major role in the White Rose project and new life will be injected into that facility. The shipyard will be responsible for more than 60 per cent of the total topsides fabrication work. This is expected to generate direct employment at peak times of 500 to 600 workers at the Marystown facility over the next few years. Additional topsides work will occur in other centres outside Marystown. St. John�s will play an important role in topsides fabrication and we are hopeful that Bull Arm will also be utilized. Across these facilities, over 80 per cent of the project�s total topsides work will occur right here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

I am confident that the future of our petroleum industry holds great promise for new exploration, discovery and development. I look forward to the fourth quarter of 2005 when we will mark first oil from Newfoundland and Labrador�s third producing field - White Rose.

2002 04 15                           2:20 p.m.