Equinor sets 2031 as new target for first oil at Bay du Nord

Oil production at Bay du Nord is present slated to statesman successful 2031, with the manager of the stalled offshore task saying he's "cautiously optimistic" it volition spell ahead.

That's astir three years aboriginal than erstwhile estimates, made earlier Bay du Nord was enactment connected clasp astir 2 years ago.

Bay du Nord — which would beryllium Canada's archetypal deep-water lipid task — was paused by Norwegian vigor elephantine Equinor in May 2023, sending shockwaves done the Newfoundland and Labrador lipid manufacture amid an vigor league successful St. John's happening astatine the aforesaid time. The institution blamed "challenging marketplace conditions" that forced task costs skyward. 

"It's a hard task due to the fact that it's 500 kilometres offshore, it's 1,000 metres of h2o depth. Icebergs and truthful on. So it is simply a costly endeavour. There is nary infrastructure retired there," Tore Løseth, Equinor's manager for Canada, said connected Tuesday.

Løseth said contempt astir 2 years of efforts to "reshape the project," he's inactive unsure whether Bay du Nord will go a reality.

"We don't person a task yet. We're not definite we tin marque it work," helium said.

The institution has been reviewing its task plan since that hiatus. The plan initially aimed to extract crude lipid from 5 lipid fields successful the Flemish Pass, an country 500 kilometres eastbound of St. John's that represents a caller frontier for Newfoundland and Labrador's lipid industry.

Thousands of jobs person been promised, arsenic good arsenic billions of dollars successful royalties for the heavy indebted provincial government.

Equinor is present aiming for a phased approach, archetypal launching accumulation successful the 2 astir promising fields: Bay du Nord and Cambriol.

"We person a large task squad that has done a batch of enactment to amended the project. And truthful present the task looks antithetic due to the fact that we've improved it," Løseth said.

The production, storage, and offloading vas that Equinor intends to physique volition besides beryllium manufactured by a third-party contractor. It volition truthful beryllium built faster and outgo less, Løseth said, without specifying wherever operation volition instrumentality place.

A determination to determination guardant to the project's adjacent phase, starring to further engineering and readying work, is expected by the extremity of the year. A last concern determination is expected successful 2027.

"When you marque a immense concern determination similar that, there's a batch of risks. One of the risks, and 1 of the things we are focusing on, is what lipid terms level bash we request successful the aboriginal really to person a profitable project, to marque money," said Løseth.

He said the task remains an important 1 for Equinor and his assurance successful the task tin alteration connected immoderate fixed day.

"You person seen each the enactment that we person enactment in. We person not fixed up," helium said.

"But astatine the aforesaid clip it needs to beryllium an concern proposition that makes sense. So we spot a bully future. If we tin marque it work, similar I said, there's a longevity to the Bay du Nord task and the Flemish Pass Basin."

Download our free CBC News app to motion up for propulsion alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Click here to sojourn our landing page.