Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers expresses concern about Bay du Nord project decision delay

Paul Barnes, Director, Atlantic Canada & Arctic for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) said it causes significant concern to see another delay in the decision to approve the environmental assessment of the Bay du Nord project.

“Particularly after a four-year, evidence-based environmental review process which found the project to be environmentally sound,” Barnes said. “Canada must find a path forward to build major projects that are environmentally responsible, create desperately needed jobs and develop critically important energy infrastructure while working to reduce emissions.”

 Bay du Nord has the potential to produce some of the lowest carbon barrels of oil in Canada, create thousands of jobs and bring over $3.5 billion in revenue to the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. 

“Canada is one of the few trusted, safe and reliable producers of oil and natural gas in the world,” Barnes said. “The Bay du Nord project offers an incredible economic opportunity for Newfoundland and Labrador and Canada, and a solution to meeting rising global energy demand with a responsible, secure source of energy. CAPP is calling on the federal government to approve the Bay du Nord project as soon as possible."   

Barnes also commented in response to the Sierra Club on the Bay du Nord project.

“In the past few days, the strategic importance of energy security has become brutally apparent, and our trading partners and allies cannot rely on countries that do not share Canadians' high ethical and human rights standards for that supply,” Barnes said.

The activist groups opposing the Bay du Nord project are citing the IEA Net Zero report that goes on to show if other countries stop investing in new oil projects, Russia’s global market share rises significantly with OPEC and Russia making up over 60 per cent of the world’s supply of global oil production.

“We must seriously ask ourselves is this where we should be getting our oil?” he said. “Bay du Nord has the potential to produce the lowest carbon barrels of oil in Canada. This significant investment project is expected to create thousands of jobs and bring over $3.5 billion in revenue to the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.”

Canada has missed many opportunities in recent years to build major projects that create desperately needed jobs and develop energy infrastructure that is critically important to our friends and trading partners around the world. The Bay du Nord project offers an opportunity for the Canadian government to prove investment in our country is welcome and that Canada is ready to play a bigger role in meeting rising global energy demand.