Offshore regulator calls for bids on three parcels in Jeanne d’Arc region

Canadian offshore oil & gas regulator, the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB), has issued a Call for Bids in the Jeanne d’Arc region under the Scheduled Land Tenure Regime.

The Scheduled Land Tenure system is designed to provide increased timeframes for calls for bids in more frontier areas of the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area.

The area is divided into eight regions, which have been individually categorized as either low activity, high activity, or mature, based on the level of oil and gas exploration and development activities.

Under that system, Jeanne d’Arc region in the Eastern Newfoundland area is considered a mature region.

The C-NLOPB said on Monday that interested parties would have until 4:30 p.m. CET (12:00 p.m. Newfoundland Summer Time) on November 8, 2017, to submit sealed bids for the parcels offered in the Call for Bids NL17-CFB01.

According to the organization, the sole criterion for selecting a winning bid will be the total amount of money the bidder commits to spending on exploration of the parcel during Period I, which is the first period of a nine-year license. The minimum bid for the parcel offered is $10,000,000 in work commitments.

Call for Bids NL17-CFB01 in the Jeanne d’Arc region consists of three parcels and a total of 784,330 acres.

The parcels are included in the 2014 Eastern Newfoundland Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) which examines the environmental effects associated with a plan, program or policy proposal and allows for the incorporation of environmental considerations at the earliest stages of program planning.

The C-NLOPB added that it would not approve any offshore petroleum related activity until an operator demonstrates that it has met all legislative and regulatory requirements and has reduced risks to levels that are as low as reasonably practicable.

The last call, named NL16-CFB01, was for thirteen parcels in the Eastern Newfoundland region, and three parcels in the Jeanne d’Arc region. It was announced in April last year with the results of the call announced in November 2016.