The offshore regulator for Newfoundland and Labrador says Equinor Canada's Harpoon discovery has an estimated 40 million barrels of recoverable oil.
The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board said Thursday the estimate is based on its interpretation of well and seismic data from the Harpoon site, located approximately 500 kilometres northeast of St. John's in the Flemish Pass Basin.
Based on our internal interpretation of well and seismic data, we have updated our Reserves and Resources table with the addition of the Harpoon discovery, estimated to be 40 million barrels of oil https://t.co/pZhodzJicI
— C-NLOPB (@CNLOPB) January 7, 2021
Equinor Canada applied to the C-NLOPB for a significant discovery licence last fall. The Harpoon discovery was first announced seven years before that in June of 2013, only a few months before the company then known as Statoil announced the nearby Bay du Nord discovery.
Bay du Nord has an estimated 407 million barrels of recoverable oil, and in 2018 Equinor Canada announced a $6.8-billion investment plan to move that deep-water project forward. But last March, Equinor and its partner Husky Energy (now part of Cenovus Energy) announced they were deferring that project due to low oil prices and industry uncertainty linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.
New discoveries
Last October, Equinor Canada announced two new discoveries in wells at the Cappahayden and Cambriol prospects, also located within the Flemish Pass Basin. Those sites were drilled last summer, and the company said at the time of the announced oil discovery it was too early to determine volumes. During the 2020 exploration season, Equinor Canada also drilled a top-hole at the Sitka prospect.
Equinor Canada is also part of the ownership group for Hibernia Management and Development Company (HMDC) Ltd. Last month, the provincial government announced HMDC will receive $38 million from the Oil and Gas Industry Recovery Assistance Fund to restart well work, conduct drill rig upgrades and invest in digital technology for the Hibernia offshore project. Equinor Canada has the smallest ownership stake in HMDC among six companies at five per cent.
Equinor Canada is the majority owner of the Harpoon prospect at 65 per cent, with Cenovus owning the remaining 35 per cent.
Andrew Robinson is a business reporter in St. John's.
