Newfoundland: Laurentian subbasin call for bids issued

The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board has issued a call for bids on six parcels totaling nearly 1.6 million ha in Area C of the Laurentian subbasin in the Atlantic 210 miles southwest of St. John’s.

Alan Petzet

March 9, 2012

Deadline is Nov. 1, 2012, to submit sealed bids. The sole criterion for selecting winning bids will be the total amount of money the bidder commits to spend exploring the respective parcel during Period I, including the spudding of a well, to validate the license for the full 9-year term. Minimum bid is $1 million/parcel.

Three of the parcels are adjacent to the French Exclusive Zone around St. Pierre and Miquelon islands. A 2005 agreement ratified by France but not yet by Canada could result in the application of further terms and conditions for those parcels. Two parcels adjacent to three of the six blocks are under license to ConocoPhillips Canada Resources Corp., which shot 3D seismic (OGJ Online, Feb. 24, 2006).

About the Author

Alan Petzet

Chief Editor Exploration

Alan Petzet is Chief Editor-Exploration of Oil & Gas Journal in Houston. He is editor of the Weekly E&D Newsletter, emailed to OGJ subscribers, and a regular contributor to the OGJ Online subscriber website.

Petzet joined OGJ in 1981 after 13 years in the Tulsa World business-oil department. He was named OGJ Exploration Editor in 1990. A native of Tulsa, he has a BA in journalism from the University of Tulsa.