Newfoundland and Labrador government will offer finacial support to the “Hibernia Project”, in an effort to protect offshore industry.
Namely, Hibernia offshore platform will receive up to $38 million in order to restart well work, perform drill rig upgrades, and invest in new digital technology.
This project will create and maintain jobs in the near term for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and create a boost across a number of supply and service sectors including well services, engineering, procurement, fabrication, construction, logistics and telecommunications.
…as Honourable Andrew Furey Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, said.
As explained, the fund of project will focus on:
- Restart Well Work – Restart well intervention activity to increase production and enable potential future drilling.
- Drill Rig Upgrade – Rig upgrades will unlock resources currently not reachable, and enable an additional 10+ years of future drilling.
- Digital Transformation – Implement offshore wireless connectivity though 5G LTE and pervasive WiFi to become a global leader in offshore technology. This will establish new specialized telecommunications services in Canada, developing expertise for offshore NL.
The fund includes three target areas: maintenance of existing installations; increasing productivity in the basin; and accelerating investment. Key evaluation criteria for eligible proposals include employment impacts; amount of applicant contribution; environmental benefits, and sustainability.
The work proposed by HMDC will create employment for our oil and gas industry workers and create new cutting-edge technology in our offshore, allowing us to remain globally competitive.
…Honourable Andrew Parsons Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology noted.
Concluding, Newfoundland and Labrador’s offshore oil and gas industry represents one of the lowest carbon per barrel footprints in the world. In fact, it has contributed more than $22 billion in royalties (to the end of 2019) and directly employed over 6,000 people as well as thousands more in supporting industries (at the end of March 2020).
