Natural Resources
December 15, 2014
The following statement was given today in the House of Assembly by the Honourable Derrick Dalley, Minister of Natural Resources:
Recent Calls for Bids Reflect Petroleum Industry's Interest and Growth in Offshore
Mr. Speaker, I rise in this Honourable House today to highlight the good news resulting from the Calls for Bids announced Friday by the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board. The Call for Bids consisted of six parcels of land in the Flemish Pass, the Carson and the Jeanne D'Arc basins.
The interest by the petroleum industry in the Calls for Bids was significant and clearly demonstrates the long-term potential for exploration and development within Newfoundland and Labrador's offshore. In fact, the result for Calls for Bids in the Flemish Pass Basin of a $559 million commitment to exploration by ExxonMobil Canada Limited, Suncor Energy and ConocoPhillips Canada Resources Corporation is the largest bid in the province's history for a single parcel.
Exploration and production companies internationally are increasingly interested in our offshore. Statoil, for example, has indicated that Newfoundland and Labrador remains one of its six core focus areas.
Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to exploration, including the province's frontier regions. As envisioned in our energy plan, we have enabled Nalcor, on behalf of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, to invest in multi-client seismic programs which has delineated three new basins offshore Labrador. Nalcor, through the Offshore Geoscience Development Program, continues to pursue seismic, electromagnetic and seabed coring initiatives from the Labrador Sea to the southern Grand Banks.
The province continues to transition towards a new scheduled land tenure system. The next Calls for Bids, which will be issued by the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board in the spring, will be under the new system and will provide operators with increased timeframes for the bidding process in more frontier areas.
The petroleum industry is the largest contributor to provincial GDP at 33 per cent with oil production value of over $8 billion and royalty revenues of $2 billion in 2012. Continued exploration activity will help to sustain growth and development, while supporting long-term economic and employment opportunities for many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.
Thank you.
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2014 12 15 1:45 p.m.