ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Statoil Canada and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador will spend $3.9 million on research into oil and gas operations in Arctic and harsh environments.
Statoil will spend $2.4 million on the three new projects while Crown corporation Research and Development Corp. will spend $1.5 million.
One project led by Kvaerner Canada Ltd. involves Arctic subsea oil and gas separation and storage technology.
Rutter Inc. will help develop a system to automatically detect and predict ice movement.
In addition, AMEC Americas Ltd. will research remote sea-ice sensing and ice forecasting technology.
The announcement is another step as the province tries to position itself as a centre for Arctic and harsh environment expertise.
The prospect of Arctic oil development has prompted widespread protest, especially since the BP Gulf of Mexico disaster exposed technological limits on the ability to control blowouts.