New Exploration Permits Awarded for Canadian Offshore
Statoil, Chevron, ExxonMobil, BG and BP have won exploration licenses in offshore from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia in Canada.
Statoil will operate five licenses, and participate in one license as a partner. Statoil Canada Ltd has committed to spending $82 million during the first six years of a nine-year exploration license.
The licenses offshore Newfoundland total 1,466,918 hectares (14,670 square kilometers), and are located in an area in proximity to the Statoil-operated Bay du Nord discovery.
The licenses offshore Nova Scotia (NS15-1 Parcels 1 and 2) cover an area totalling 650,000 hectares (6,500 square kilometers), and are located approximately 250 kilometers from Halifax, Nova Scotia.
“Statoil’s projects will build on Shell Canada and BP's billion-dollar exploration projects, reaffirming global interest in Nova Scotia's offshore resources,” says Nova Scotia Energy Minister Michel Samson.
Government has stepped up its efforts to attract investment in the offshore, says Samson. In 2014 government announced a four-year commitment to spend $12 million to collect more geoscience research and market that data to oil companies around the world.
Canada has one of the strongest regulatory regimes in the world to ensure businesses that operate in Nova Scotia do so in a safe and responsible manner, says Samson.
However, an environmental group has raised concerns about the area’s lobster, scallop and groundfish fisheries.
“All of those fisheries are potentially in danger. It’s well in excess of a billion dollars annually to the economy of Nova Scotia, and it deserves to be protected,” said John Davis, director of the Clean Ocean Action Committee.
He says the exploration areas are just east of Georges Bank and sit on the Scotian Shelf. One shares a border with a drilling moratorium area, he said.
The licenses awarded are located in an area nearby to Statoil’s previous discoveries in the Flemish Pass Basin – the Mizzen discovery was made in 2009, and Harpoon and Bay du Nord were both discovered in 2013.
“The successful bids in these frontier areas offshore Canada are in line with Statoil’s strategy of deepening our position in prolific basins and securing access at scale, while also adding important optionality to our exploration portfolio,” says Tim Dodson, executive vice president for Exploration in Statoil.
“The significant exploration investment offshore Newfoundland will provide Statoil an opportunity to further advance our established exploration position in this region through a step-wise approach, while in Nova Scotia, we are able to apply the exploration knowledge and experience we have gained globally and in the North Atlantic specifically,” he said.
Statoil owns interests in several exploration, development and production licenses offshore Newfoundland, and has an office in St. John’s. The company is also partner in the Hibernia and Terra Nova fields, as well as partner in the Hebron field development.
The offshore Newfoundland licenses awarded are:
NL15-01-02: Chevron 35 percent (operator); Statoil 35 percent; BG 30 percent (274,732 hectares)
NL15-01-05: Statoil: 40 percent; ExxonMobil 35 percent; BG 25 percent (267,403 hectares)
NL15-01-06 Statoil 34 percent; ExxonMobil 33 percent; BP 33 percent (262,230 hectares)
NL15-01-07: Statoil 34 percent; ExxonMobil 33 percent; BP 33 percent (254,321 hectares)
NL15-01-08: Statoil 50 percent; BP 50 percent (268,755 hectares)
NL15-01-09: Statoil 100 percent (139,477 hectares)
