Thanks to the efforts of many, there have been no reports of workers getting hurt during last week’s storm, which was one of the worst this region has seen offshore since the Ocean Ranger disaster in 1982. The absence of injuries speaks to hard-earned advances in safety in the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area.

However, the spill of crude oil in the White Rose Field as Husky Energy prepared to resume production showed that the risks in offshore oil activity can never be underestimated, especially in our harsh environment. Those risks are only acceptable when all reasonable measures have been taken to reduce them.

Husky has confirmed that all wells are shut-in and secure. As well, production and drilling operations are shut-in and will remain so for the foreseeable future.

Four surveillance flights and an offshore support vessel have been deployed since Friday to help assess the extent of the spill and look for any effects on wildlife. To date, no affected marine life or seabirds have been seen by government and industry observers in the vicinity of the spill and its trajectory. The C-NLOPB is particularly grateful to the Canadian Coast Guard and the National Environmental Emergencies Centre for their ongoing assistance and advice in the Board’s oversight of Husky Energy’s response to the spill.

There is no reason to believe based on the flight results that this is an ongoing spill, and it is believed to be a “batch spill”.

Husky will deploy a Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) to inspect subsea assets as soon as sea states have subsided to enable safe launching of the ROV. An updated estimate of the volume of the spill and other information should be available following the ROV deployment and subsea inspection.

As to next steps, the C-NLOPB will:

• carefully review Husky Energy’s ongoing response, the company’s investigation report when ready and its Operations Authorization in light of this incident and the one last year involving the near miss of an iceberg with the SeaRose FPSO;
• formally investigate the spill under its powers as per the Atlantic Accord Implementation Acts, in an effort to confirm the root cause;
• release the findings of the C-NLOPB investigation to the public as soon as they are available;
• take whatever enforcement action is deemed appropriate in this incident;
• share the learnings from this incident with the industry and other regulators in Canada and worldwide, through the International Regulators Forum and the International Offshore Petroleum Environmental Regulators;
• redouble our efforts with operators in the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area with regard to spill prevention and response, and harsh weather protocols and procedures, with a view to further reducing risks to offshore workers, the environment and facilities; and
• continue to otherwise use its regulatory oversight to drive improved industry performance in the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area.

More broadly, late last week the C-NLOPB’s Chief Safety Officer advised all operators to take the time necessary to address known storm impacts while ensuring there were no surprises as operators consider getting ready to resume operations.

In the wake of the oil spill at the White Rose Field, the C-NLOPB CEO and senior staff have been in contact with other operators in the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area. Operations at other facilities will not resume until the C-NLOPB has determined that it is safe to do so.

The C-NLOPB will provide further updates as they become available.

Media Contact:

Husky Energy
Colleen McConnell
Husky Energy Communications
(709) 724-3504
Colleen.McConnell@huskyenergy.com

C-NLOPB
Lesley Rideout
Communications Lead
c. 709-725-2900
lrideout@cnlopb.ca

November 18, 2018 (4:00 pm, St. John’s time)

Incident Disclosures 2018