In what could be a resurgence of Canada’s sagging offshore oil industry, Newfoundland and Labrador has officially licensed what is proving to be one of the largest offshore oil discoveries in years and hiked the number of recoverable barrels it says can be recovered from the Flemish Pass.The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB) now says the Cambriol discovery from Norwegian state oil company Equinor’s G-92 well now holds about 340 million barrels of economically recoverable oil..The hole was originally drilled in 2020 but there was no assessment of potential volumes. It follows the Cappahayden discovery, which has yet to be determined. Both are located in water depths of 600 to 1,000 metres (2,000 to 3,200 feet) about 500 kilometres due east of St. John’s. Equinor is a 60/40 partner with British supermajor BP.Equinor says Cambriol holds 500 million barrels of recoverable oil, but the discrepancy between ‘technically’ and ‘economically’ recoverable oil is due to oil prices.The distinction is important because discoveries are adjacent to its prolific Bay du Nord finds that were first made in 2013. In 2020, Equinor and then-Husky Energy postponed the project, which had recoverable reserves of 300 million barrels due to lower oil prices..It was expected to start production in 2025. It’s not clear if the higher reserves numbers from each justifies a resumption of those plans given that the oil would be cheaper to produce.It’s given resurgent hope for Newfoundland’s stalled offshore oil industry which saw its production fall 25% due to a lack of discoveries.In late January, Equinor sent out feelers for contractors or so-called ‘expressions of interest’ for companies to design and build floating offshore oil production and storage vessels — otherwise known as FPSOs.The company is also planning to resume exploration drilling later this year, possibly by summer, to drill a third prospect called Sitka, also in the Flemish Pass. And in another encouraging sign, Equinor relocated a project manager from Norway to St. John’s."Our members are very pleased to hear that there is movement on the Bay du Nord project," said Charlene Johnson, the head of industry group Energy NL. "It's obvious to us that they absolutely want this project to succeed."
