Equinor postponing Bay du Nord oil project off Newfoundland for up to three years

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. –

Equinor is pausing its plans to develop a controversial $16-billion oil challenge off Newfoundland’s east coast.

The Norwegian power big introduced Wednesday that it was suspending its plans for the Bay du Nord oil challenge for as much as three years. The challenge has seen important value will increase in latest months, largely on account of risky market circumstances, the corporate stated in a news launch.

Trond Bokn, Equinor’s senior vice-president of challenge growth, stated the corporate will reassess the challenge to see if “further optimizations” will be made.

“Bay du Nord is an important project for Equinor,” he stated in a news launch.

The Bay du Nord contains 5 totally different discovery areas which are stated to carry a complete of 979 million barrels of recoverable oil, in accordance with estimates in February from Newfoundland and Labrador’s offshore oil regulator. The growth would open the province’s fifth offshore oilfield and be its first deep-water oil challenge.

Newfoundland and Labrador’s newest provincial price range factored in financial positive aspects from the Bay du Nord challenge starting in 2025.

The federal authorities gave the challenge environmental approval final April, drawing sharp criticism from environmentalists. Equinor and the Newfoundland and Labrador authorities have stated the challenge will produce far fewer greenhouse gasoline emissions whereas extracting oil than another challenge in Canada. But environmentalists and local weather scientists counter that the majority of the greenhouse gasoline emissions from fossil fuels are produced when they’re burned as gasoline.

In March, a lawyer representing atmosphere and Indigenous teams argued in Federal Court that the federal approval of the challenge was flawed as a result of it didn’t think about these “downstream” emissions.

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault stated in January that approving Bay du Nord was the “most difficult decision” he is needed to make since assuming the portfolio in 2021.

At the time, Equinor had not but confirmed it could make the total funding obligatory to hold the challenge by means of to growth. The firm’s web site says that earlier than the delay, the Bay du Nord challenge was forecast to provide its first oil by the tip of the last decade.

This report from The Canadian Press was first revealed on May 31, 2023.