Covid-19 Stalls Canadian Round

The Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NSOPB) has suspended its next call for bids until spring 2021, it said May 13. The C-NSOPB is the joint federal and provincial regulator of oil and gas activity in Nova Scotia’s offshore region.

Call for Bids NS20-1 was to have been launched, through implementation of a process that begins with Fundamental Decisions, in March, but was suspended for one month pending input from the federal and provincial energy ministers.

The call for bids process entails a request to industry for input into which areas in the Nova Scotia offshore it would like the opportunity to acquire exploration rights. When and if such requests are made, the C-NSOPB will post certain areas, with accompanying minimum expected work commitments, and allow a period for industry to bid on the areas.

On May 11, Nova Scotia energy and mines minister Derek Mombourquette wrote to the C-NSOPB asking that implementation of the call be set aside until some date in the future.

“As you may appreciate, Covid-19 continues to have a dramatic impact on government priorities and activities as well as the activities of the global petroleum sector,” he wrote.

The same day, Seamus O’Regan, Canada’s minister of natural resources, wrote to concur with Mombourquette’s request.

“I would be pleased to reconsider these Fundamental Decisions in spring 2021, once the offshore industry has had a chance to recover from the impacts of the Covid-19 health crisis,” O’Regan wrote. “This approach will also provide Nova Scotia with additional time to undertake a marketing campaign for the Call for Bids parcels.”