The government of Newfoundland and Labrador has received an early Christmas present courtesy of Suncor Energy with the restart of the Terra Nova oilfield located about 350 km southeast of St. John’s.The Calgary-based company announced Monday the floating, production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) had safely resumed operations for the first time since 2019..Since then, the vessel has sat idle due to a combination of downtime stemming from the pandemic and an extensive retrofit designed to extend its operating life past 2031.“Focusing on safety and operational integrity, we have brought this key offshore project online, providing additional cash flow for our shareholders as well as many benefits to the Newfoundland and Labrador and Canadian economies,” Suncor CEO Rich Kruger said in a statement. “We appreciate the collaboration and support from the provincial and federal governments regarding this project.”.The Terra Nova Partners are Suncor (48%), Cenovus (34%) and Murphy Oil Corp. (18%).The FPSO refit was originally expected to cost $500 million but dragged on for unspecified reasons. In 2021 it was relocated to Ferrol, Spain as part of a plan to extend the life of the field.In 2021, the Newfoundland and federal governments chipped in $205 million and forfeited $300 million in future royalty payments to keep the ship in the water amid a broader downturn in the oil markets. The revitalization is expected to add another 70 million barrels of oil over the next decade.It wasn’t clear if the project would restart in 2023, if ever.Speaking at an oil and gas conference in London on Monday, Newfoundland’s Energy Minister, Andrew Parsons, hailed the move as a way of funding new green energy projects in the province."It's a good day. I mean, for a long time we didn't know if this was actually going to happen. And then even the refit took some time. So it's a very positive day," he told reporters..Terra Nova was first discovered in 1984 by the former Petro-Canada and began production in 2002. It was the first offshore development in North America to use an FPSO. Unlike the fixed platform used at Hibernia, the oil is recovered and pumped onto the ship using floating lines fixed to the sea floor.Three purpose-built tankers capable of storing 850,000 barrels each shuttle the oil back to shore at Placentia Bay. It was originally designed to have a production life of 15 to 17 years and has produced about 350 million barrels to date. A pair of satellite fields increased that by an additional 100 million barrels. In its statement, Suncor said production is expected to ramp up slowly. Prior to repairs in 2019, it was producing about 150,000 barrels per day.
