The industry is excited that BP wells will be drilled off Newfoundland this summer17 Jan 2023 09:33
ST. JOHN’S, NL – A recent article by international energy news website Oilprice.com ranks an offshore Newfoundland exploration project in the top 5 in the world most likely to “shake up the market” in 2023 and beyond.The story by Gerald Jansen, an independent freelance energy analyst based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, covers the Cape Freels prospect, located approximately 400 kilometers off the east coast of Newfoundland and Labrador in the West Orphan Basin.Oil giant BP will have the first exploration well called Ephesus drilled at the site this summer. The site is in deep water, about 1,250 meters.The Cape Freels exploration well has been on everyone’s lips for some time, and eastern Canada’s oilmen have been considering the possibility of opening the border since at least 2019,” the article says.“The Cape Freels prospect … was originally thought to contain four to five billion barrels of oil and gas, potentially twice the size of the similar upstream Hibernia field, the geographically closest producing unit.”Longtime Newfoundland and Labrador offshore oil industry adviser Rob Strong agreed that there is significant interest in the BP well.While seismic work over the last four or five years has been interpreted as very positive, he said the real evidence can only come from drilling.“You don’t know until you’ve dug the well. Seismic can look as good as it gets and could be a gas or water gap, so you really have to drill the well,” Strong said. “(BP) has hired a drill rig and they will be here drilling there in March or April of this year.“Things should be very exciting against the background of the excitement, but how will the federal government take the position if they actually come up with a sizeable field? That’s the $64,000 question.”In April 2022, the federal government exempted Equinor’s massive Bay du Nord offshore development project from the environmental assessment process, paving the way for the project to proceed if Equinor so chooses.Equinor Canada has stated that a final investment decision could be made within a few years. If the project is approved, the first oil could be produced as early as 2028. Bay du Nord’s reserves are estimated at up to a billion barrels.Last April’s decision drew much criticism from environmental groups, who said Canada had relinquished its responsibility as a frontrunner on climate change.Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault told national media in interviews at the end of 2022 that Bay du Nord was the most difficult decision he had to make.Strong said he wonders what that signals for future projects, such as a potential Cape Freels. He said the world still needs oil and will need it for another 30 to 40 years.
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