With Canada’s Harper-era emissions reduction target under the Paris Agreement barely on life support, the province of Newfoundland and Labrador has introduced a new growth strategy for its oil and gas sector that envisions more than 100 new exploration wells and output of 650,000 barrels of oil or equivalent per day by 2030.
By comparison, the province’s Hibernia offshore oil field was producing 126,000 barrels per day as of 2009, the most recent estimate easily available online.
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The plan, titled Advance 2030, embodies a government-industry push to “position the province globally as a preferred location for oil and gas development,” a government release states. It calls for a shorter lag “from prospectivity to production”, commercial natural gas production, and integration of renewable energy with oil and gas in a “world-class energy cluster”.
It claims all of that “prospectivity” and other activity will create 7,500 jobs.
“Our government is committed to working collaboratively to ensure responsible development of our oil and gas industry,” said Premier Dwight Ball. “The time is now to [take] action [on] Advance 2030 to grow the industry for the benefit of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.”
“Newfoundland and Labrador has tremendous opportunity in offshore oil and gas,” added Natural Resources Minister Siobhan Coady. “By focusing on our competitiveness, driving exploration, ensuring innovation, and working together, we will achieve the vision we all want of a thriving, growing oil and gas industry.”
