Five areas draw bids in Newfoundland and Labrador license round

Nov. 7, 2018
The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board received high bids totaling nearly $1.4 billion (Can.) for exploration licenses covering four areas in the Eastern Newfoundland Region and one area in the Jeanne d’Arc Region in a round of scheduled bidding that ended Nov. 7.

The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board received high bids totaling nearly $1.4 billion (Can.) for exploration licenses covering four areas in the Eastern Newfoundland Region and one area in the Jeanne d’Arc Region in a round of scheduled bidding that ended Nov. 7.

It had offered exploration licenses for 16 parcels totaling 3,941,046 hectares in the Eastern Newfoundland Region and one in the Jeanne d’Arc Region.

The sole bidding criterion was commitment to exploration spending during the first period of the 9-year license.

The board received no bids for production licenses offered in the Jeanne d’Arc Region.

In the Eastern Newfoundland Region:

• BHP Billiton Petroleum (New Ventures Corp.), bidding alone, submitted a record-high bid of $621.02 million for Parcel 8 covering 269,799 hectares.

• BHP Billiton also submitted the successful bid of $201.02 million for 273,579-hectare Parcel 12, again bidding alone.

• A combine of Equinor Canada Ltd. (70%) and Husky Oil Operations Ltd. (30%) made the successful bid of $32.23 million for Parcel 14, covering 159,036 hectares.

• Equinor Canada (60%) and Suncor Energy Offshore Exploration Partnership (40%) bid high with $480 million for 253,608-hectare Parcel 15.

In the Jeanne d’Arc Region, Suncor (40%), Husky (30%), and Equinor Canada (30%) made the successful bid of $52 million for Parcel 1, covering 142,448 hectares.