Statoil approved for new exploration licences offshore Newfoundland and Nova Scotia

New offshore projects are coming to Canada, as Norwegian oil and gas outfit Statoil strengthens its presence in the region. Today brought news that the Canadian officials have awarded Statoil and its partners six exploration licences offshore of Newfoundland in the Flemish Pass Basin, as well as two additional exploration licences for offshore of Nova Scotia.

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According to a statement from Statoil, its six Newfoundland licences encompass 1,466,918 hectares (14,670 km2 and are located close to its existing Bay du Nord discovery site. Statoil will own and operate five of the licences—the sixth will be operated by Chevron with Statoil acting as a partner. Other partners for the Newfoundland exploration licences include Exxon Mobil, BG and BP in varying capacities.

Meanwhile its Nova Scotia licences equate to roughly 650,000 hectares (6,500 km2) and will be situated 250 km offshore of Halifax. As the CBC reports, in Nova Scotia alone Statoil has committed to spending $82 million on these two offshore sites within the first six years.  

“The successful bids in these frontier areas offshore Canada are in line with Statoil’s strategy of deepening our position in prolific basins and securing access at scale, while also adding important optionality to our exploration portfolio,” says Tim Dodson, executive vice president for Exploration in Statoil.

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“The significant exploration investment offshore Newfoundland will provide Statoil an opportunity to further advance our established exploration position in this region through a step-wise approach, while in Nova Scotia, we are able to apply the exploration knowledge and experience we have gained globally and in the North Atlantic specifically,” he added.