Does NL offshore regulator’s new process signal more changes to bid process coming?

The SeaRose FPSO operates on the White Rose oil field in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin about 350 kilometres east of St. John's. File The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Energy Regulator (C-NLOER) is changing up how it makes offshore parcels available for exploration, but Rob Strong believes even more can be done to stimulate the province’s oil and gas industry. In a news release issued Aug. 24, the provincial offshore oil and gas industry regulator issued two calls for nominations for parcels to be opened up. This included a call for nominations of parcels in the Jeanne d’Arc region and introduced a new cumulative parcels call for nominations in the Labrador South, Eastern Newfoundland and South Eastern Newfoundland regions. What’s new about the cumulative parcels call is that the process offers previously unawarded or recently relinquished parcels for nomination. According to C-NLOER, the move is meant “to improve transparency and flexibility, provide insight into industry and stakeholder interests and refocus the volume of call for bids acreage.” Strong, a consultant and oil and gas industry analyst in St. John’s, N.L., said opening up the offshore is a good thing, but would like to see companies permitted to request where they wish to explore rather than be told where they are allowed to. “We have to be as competitive and attractive as possible, but we’re telling oil companies where they should be bidding, whereby we should be asking, ‘Where do you want to bid?’” said Strong. “I’m encouraged that the board has at least loosened up a little bit, or at least will loosen up next year — 2027, because the 2026 blocks of acreage are fixed — but it’s not fast enough because there’s lots of competition out there.” Strong cited the example of BHP, a company that successfully bid to acquire two exploration licences for blocks in the offshore Orphan Basin off Newfoundland for an aggregate bid amount of US$625 million in 2018. Read More Unicorns are real and growing in Newfoundland and Labrador's tech sector Analyst says strong interest in Bull Arm dry dock work signals industry renewal It was touted as a “frontier opportunity” by BHP and was the biggest exploration bid in the history of the province’s offshore oil and gas industry at the time. But BHP eventually merged with Woodside Energy Group Ltd. of Australia and abandoned those parcels off Newfoundland in 2022. The new company paid the Newfoundland and Labrador government the 25 per cent it…