The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB) wishes to inform stakeholders of a new Sector in the Eastern Newfoundland Region under its Scheduled Land Tenure System. Following from the Call for Nominations for Areas of Interest announced in January 2020, interested parties can refer to the attached map for the general location for this Sector, described as NL05-EN. Exact boundaries will be defined shortly, as the physical restrictions due to COVID-19 ease and staff gain office access to required specialized software tools.
The Call for Nominations (Parcels) for this Sector is planned for late summer 2021. Informed by those nominations, stakeholder feedback, prospectivity and environmental considerations, the Board will design parcels for a Call for Bids planned for issuance early in 2022 and closing that November, with successful bidders awarded new exploration licences in early 2023. Both the issuance of a Call for Bids and exploration licences require Board approval and ratification by the federal and provincial governments.
The proposed Sector location overlaps areas of fish harvesting activity. The C-NLOPB fully appreciates the importance of both the fisheries and petroleum sectors and will continue to engage with fisheries stakeholders and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) throughout the land tenure process. A portion of the proposed Sector location overlaps with the Northeast Newfoundland Slope Marine Refuge. The C-NLOPB is focused on the protection of environmentally significant and sensitive areas, and will also continue to work closely with DFO and others in this regard.
Planning, monitoring and assessment of offshore petroleum activities will ensure they occur in an environmentally responsible way. Required regional and/or site-specific mitigation measures will be undertaken before any petroleum-related operations can begin within a licence area, as conditions of C-NLOPB approvals and authorizations. The timing, spatial extent, and nature of proposed oil and gas activities, in addition to mitigations already prescribed by legislation or regulation, will determine the level of restriction or mitigation that may be required.
A Regional Assessment of Offshore Oil and Gas Exploratory Drilling East of Newfoundland and Labrador was recently completed, which included extensive stakeholder engagements. Pursuant to the Regional Assessment, on June 4, 2020 the Government of Canada announced the coming into force of a Ministerial Regulation that improves the efficiency of the assessment process for oil and gas exploration drilling projects in the relevant part of the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area, while at the same time protecting the environment.
Seismic programs to be undertaken in the Sector will also be subject to rigorous, science-based Accord Act Environmental Assessments undertaken in close consultation with government subject matter experts and others.
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) 725-2900
lrideout@cnlopb.ca
Stakeholder Contact:
Stephanie Johnson, P.Geo
Acting Director of Exploration and Information Resources
(709) 689-0459
sjohnson@cnlopb.ca