The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB) has issued a Call for Nominations (Parcels) NL20-CFN02 in the South Eastern Newfoundland Region (Sector NL02-SEN) and a Call for Nominations (Parcels) NL20-CFN03 in the Jeanne d’Arc Region. These Calls for Nominations will assist the C-NLOPB in selecting parcels to be included in subsequent 2021 Calls for Bids, which will close in November 2021, pending Board approval and ratification by the federal and provincial governments. Any successful bidders would be awarded licences in early 2022.

A Regional Assessment of Offshore Oil and Gas Exploratory Drilling East of Newfoundland and Labrador was recently completed and 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.

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.

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 Regional Assessment, 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 on or before November 10, 2020. 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) 725-2900
lrideout@cnlopb.ca

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

News Releases 2020