Reports released to promote oil and gas potential

Ed Byrne, Minister of Natural Resources, advised today the Department of Natural Resources has publicly released two reports that highlight the petroleum potential of the offshore areas which are subject to the most recent Call for Bids.

In March of this year, the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB) announced its 2005 Call for Bids for the Newfoundland and Labrador offshore area. The Call for Bids consists of seven parcels of land � three are located in the Jeanne d�Arc Basin and four are located offshore western Newfoundland.

�Government continues to raise awareness among the players in the petroleum sector of the tremendous potential that exists within our offshore area,� said Minister Byrne. �Our offshore area is huge with 765,000 square kilometres of offshore land with petroleum potential. We have some 20 basins and sub-basins that are among the largest unexplored basins in the world. Our potential is that six billion barrels of oil and more than 60 trillion cubic feet of natural gas remain undiscovered. We are now looking to unlock this potential.�

With the release of these two reports � one specific to the parcels up for bids within the Jeanne d�Arc Basin and the other report focused on the offshore western Newfoundland lands � government is providing the industry with an overview of the petroleum activities and potential of these land parcels added Minister Byrne.

�Our experience has told us that such reports assist in drawing attention to the land parcels the C-NLOPB offers for bids and, subsequently, lead to positive results,� said Minister Byrne. The minister noted that a similar report led to the most successful land sale ever in 2003 when $672 million was committed for exploration in the Orphan Basin. Additionally, another report assisted with the 2004 land sale when $71 million was committed for exploration in the Jeanne d�Arc Basin.

�We are certainly witnessing a resurgence of interest in our petroleum potential as industry has commitments of over $800 million for exploration activity over the next several years,� said Minister Byrne. �I encourage all petroleum companies to review these reports so they may get a greater understanding of our potential.�

The reports can be accessed at:

Report 1: Newfoundland and Labrador Call for Bids NL05-01, Parcels 1, 2, and 3, Regional Setting and Petroleum Geology Evaluation
www.nr.gov.nl.ca/mines&en/call_for_bids/NL05.pdf

Report 2: Call for Bids NLO5-01, Geological Report on Parcels 4 to 7, Offshore Western Newfoundland www.nr.gov.nl.ca/mines&en/call_for_bids/NL05western.pdf

Media contact: Carmel Turpin, Communications, (709) 729-5282, (709) 685-4624

2005 09 14                                   2:50 p.m.