October 1, 2015, St. John’s, NL– The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nalcor Energy and Beicip-Franlab announced today that the “in place” oil and gas resource potential is 12 billion barrels of oil and 113 trillion cubic feet of gas for 2015 license round area in offshore Newfoundland and Labrador.
“This is an momentous day for the future of Newfoundland and Labrador’s oil and gas industry – we clearly know that there is more oil and gas waiting to be discovered and developed,” said the Honourable Paul Davis, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador. “As a government, we have taken a leadership role in developing our resources for the benefit of the people of this province. Through this information, we know more about our resource potential than we ever have before. For the first time, detailed oil and gas resource numbers will be released in advance of a license round closing, providing a fair and level playing field for the global industry prior to bidding in the license rounds.”
With the support of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, since 2011 Nalcor has been the driving force behind one of the most comprehensive offshore oil and gas geoscience programs in the world. By the end of this year, over 100,000 line kilometres of 2D multi-client seismic data will be acquired and made available to the global oil and gas industry.
“Nalcor is focused on finding new oil and gas resources for the people of the province,” said Ed Martin, CEO and President, Nalcor Energy. “The study released today provides the province and industry with detailed knowledge that there is much more oil and gas to be developed in our offshore. If you consider Hibernia – our largest oil and gas discovery that started Newfoundland and Labrador’s oil and gas industry – at 12 billion barrels of “in place” oil potential we will have several more Hibernia-sized developments in an area covering a very small percentage of our offshore. We are seeing similar prospectivity in other areas – it is safe to say offshore Newfoundland and Labrador is poised for tremendous growth.”
The resource assessment carried out by global leading firm Beicep Franlab, is based on new geoscience data covering the eleven parcels on offer in the Flemish Pass. This is the first call for bids for offshore Newfoundland and Labrador under the Scheduled Land Tenure Regime.
“Through our detailed and scientific analysis of new data for offshore Newfoundland and Labrador, the oil and gas potential of the Flemish Pass area shows that the area contains abundant oil and gas resources,” said Jean Burrus, CEO, Beicip-Franlab.
The area covered by the resource assessment represents approximately 1.6 per cent or 24, 000 square kilometres of Newfoundland and Labrador’s offshore area, an area that covers more than 1.5 million square kilometres. To ensure maximum value is attained for the people of the province, resource assessments will be carried out on future license round areas with the results released to the global oil and gas industry prior to the license round bid closing.
[expand title=”Advisories & Contact”]To download a copy of the resource assessment, visit: www.nalcorenergy.com/exploration.
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Media Contacts:
Heather MacLean
Director of Communications, Office of the Premier, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
t. 709-729-3581 e. heathermaclean@gov.nl.ca
Cara Pike, Corporate Communications, Nalcor Energy
t. 709.737.1446 c. 709.685-9290 e. carapike@nalcorenergy.com
Jennifer Lancirica, Head of Communication, Beicip-Franlab
t. +33(0)1.47.08.81.81 c. +33 (0)6.37.27.58.97 e. jennifer.lancirica@beicip.com[/expand]