Assessment reveals significant oil and gas potential offshore Newfoundland
ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND - Nalcor Energy-Oil and Gas and Beicip-Franlab, in partnership with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, today released the 2019 Oil and Gas Resource Assessment results which identify an additional 3 Bbbl oil and 5.8 Tcf gas potential offshore Newfoundland.
“The purpose of embarking on this annual independent resource assessment is to broaden our understanding of the underexplored frontier basins and add to our geotechnical knowledge of the area” said the Honorable Siobhan Coady, Minister of Natural Resources. “The resource potential in our offshore is incredible. In just 9% of our offshore, we have a combined resource potential of 52.2 Bbbl oil and 199.6 Tcf gas. We have over 650 leads and prospects identified to date, eight new entrants in the past three years, and $4 billion in recent exploration work commitments. We will continue to position our province as an internationally preferred location for oil and gas exploration and development.”
This year’s independent resource assessment is based on new data covering nine parcels on offer in the Carson-Bonnition and Salar Basins (NL19-CFB01). This area is within the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB) 2019 South Eastern Newfoundland Call for Bids which is scheduled to close November 6, 2019.
“We are applying rigorous exploration best practices and technical innovation to ensure we ultimately evaluate every area of our offshore for oil and gas resource potential,” said Jim Keating, executive vice president, offshore development, Nalcor Energy-Oil and Gas. “In addition to the 2D multi-client seismic we collected with TGS and PGS over the area, we partnered with Fugro in acquiring a high resolution multibeam survey which identified a number of seep-like features coming from the ocean floor. Subsequent coring of these anomalies confirmed hydrocarbon presence which is an important insight in this frontier basin due to the limited number of wells and no discoveries to date in the area.”
The resource assessment is based on multiple scenarios of geological models. All scenarios were calibrated to well and seismic data which provided a robust range of outcomes. Detailed technical work defined the nature and extent of the findings and further details are contained in the assessment report.
“Beicip-Franlab has carried out detailed interpretations of past and new data, well and seismic, in the Carson-Bonnition-Salar basins. The data integration approach applied was designed to rigorously asses uncertainty and risk, which allowed the generation of various probable alternative resource evaluation scenarios, confirming significant hydrocarbon potential in the area,” Jean Burrus, CEO, Beicip-Franlab.
The area is located 400 kilometers east-southeast of St. John’s and covers approximately 21,600 square kilometers. Water depths range from 100 meters on the shelf to 3,500 meters in the southeastern deepwater region of the sector.
This is the province’s fourth scheduled license round. Future license rounds scheduled through 2024 will follow the same process with detailed resource assessments being conducted and released prior to bid closing.
To download a copy of the resource assessment, visit http://exploration.nalcorenergy.com/
Nalcor Energy Oil and Gas is currently a working interest partner in three offshore developments: the Hebron oil field, the White Rose Growth Project and the Hibernia Southern Extension. Nalcor is also leading the exploration of the province’s frontier and deepwater basins by making investments in new geoscience data and analysis to evaluate Newfoundland and Labrador’s undiscovered oil and gas resource potential.
