Report on Newfoundland oil and gas potential published

“The purpose of embarking on this annual independent resource assessment is to broaden our understanding of the underexplored frontier basins and add to our geotechnical knowledge of the area” said Siobhan Coady, Minister of Natural Resources. “The resource potential in our offshore is incredible. In just 9% of our offshore, we have a combined resource potential of 52.2 billion bbl of oil and 199.6 trillion ft³ of gas. We have over 650 leads and prospects identified to date, eight new entrants in the past three years, and CAN$4 billion in recent exploration work commitments. We will continue to position our province as an internationally preferred location for oil and gas exploration and development.”

This year’s independent resource assessment is based on new data covering 9 parcels on offer in the Carson-Bonnition and Salar Basins (NL19-CFB01). This area is within the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB) 2019 South Eastern Newfoundland Call for Bids which is scheduled to close 6 November 2019.

“We are applying rigorous exploration best practices and technical innovation to ensure we ultimately evaluate every area of our offshore for oil and gas resource potential,” said Jim Keating, Executive Vice President, Offshore Development, Nalcor Energy-Oil and Gas. “In addition to the 2D multi-client seismic we collected with TGS and PGS over the area, we partnered with Fugro in acquiring a high resolution multibeam survey which identified a number of seep like features coming from the ocean floor. Subsequent coring of these anomalies confirmed hydrocarbon presence which is an important insight in this frontier basin due to the limited number of wells and no discoveries to date in the area.”

The resource assessment is based on multiple scenarios of geological models. All scenarios were calibrated to well and seismic data which provided a robust range of outcomes. Detailed technical work defined the nature and extent of the findings and further details are contained in the assessment report.

“Beicip-Franlab has carried out detailed interpretations of past and new data, well and seismic, in the Carson-Bonnition-Salar basins. The data integration approach applied was designed to rigorously asses uncertainty and risk, which allowed the generation of various probable alternative resource evaluation scenarios, confirming significant hydrocarbon potential in the area,” Jean Burrus, CEO, Beicip-Franlab.

The area is located 400 km east-southeast of St. John’s and covers approximately 21 600 km². Water depths range from 100 mm on the shelf to 3500 m in the southeastern deep water region of the sector.

This is the province’s fourth scheduled license round. Future license rounds scheduled through 2024 will follow the same process with detailed resource assessments being conducted and released prior to bid closing.

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/exploration/07102019/report-on-newfoundland-oil-and-gas-potential-published/