The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB) has issued a Call for Nominations (Areas of Interest) NL20-CFN01 – Eastern Newfoundland. This Call for Nominations will assist the C-NLOPB in selecting a sector for introduction into the scheduled land tenure system. The approximate timing for subsequent announcements is as follows:

• Sector Identification: April 2020
• Call for Nominations (Parcels)
• Opens August 2021
• Closes November 2021
• Call for Bids (pending Board approval and ratification by the federal and provincial governments)
• Opens March/April 2022
• Closes November 2022

Nomination submissions or comments regarding this current Call for Nominations (Areas of Interest) are due by 4:00 p.m. NST on March 11, 2020.

The Eastern Newfoundland Region was included in the Eastern Newfoundland Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). The SEA examines the environmental effects that may be associated with a plan, program or policy proposal and allows for the incorporation of environmental considerations at the earliest stages of program planning. In addition to the SEA, a Regional Assessment of Offshore Exploratory Drilling East of Newfoundland and Labrador is now underway, which has a number of stakeholder engagement opportunities.

The Eastern Newfoundland land tenure region includes a number of important areas for fish harvesters who fish crab and other species. The C-NLOPB fully appreciates the importance of both the fisheries and petroleum sectors and will continue to engage with fisheries stakeholders throughout this land tenure process.

Offshore safety and environmental protection are paramount in all Board decisions. The C-NLOPB supports the Government of Canada’s commitment to the protection of environmentally significant and sensitive areas, and will continue to work closely with DFO and others in this regard. In addition to the broad assessments described above, assessments of regional and/or site-specific issues will be completed before any work can begin within the licence area. The timing, spatial extent, and nature of proposed oil and gas activities, in addition to mitigations already prescribed by legislation, will determine the level of additional restriction or mitigation that may be required.

For any lands entirely or partially beyond Canada’s 200 nautical mile zone, additional terms and conditions may be applied (e.g. through legislation, regulations, amendments to licences or otherwise) to any resulting licence from a Call for Bids in order to meet obligations arising pursuant to article 82 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Nomination submissions or comments regarding the Call for Nominations are acceptable in paper or electronic format. All submissions should be clearly labeled and submitted by the above-noted deadline. Email submissions can be sent to information@cnlopb.ca.

Further detailed information about scheduled land tenure is available here.

Any parties interested in receiving email notifications on Scheduled Land Tenure related announcements can contact Shannon Bulger at sbulger@cnlopb.ca.

Media Contact:
Lesley Rideout
Communications Lead
(709) 778-4224
(709) 725-2900 (cell)
lrideout@cnlopb.ca

Stakeholder Contact:
Stephanie Johnson, P.Geo
Director of Exploration and Information Resources (Acting)
(709) 778-4246
(709) 689-0459 (cell)
sjohnson@cnlopb.ca

News Releases 2020