Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board approves Statoil's $82M bid

The Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board has approved a bid from a Norwegian-based company to explore two offshore oil parcels.

Statoil Canada Ltd., in response to the board's call for bids from earlier this year, has committed to spending $82millionduring the first six years of a nine-year exploration licence.

Nova Scotia Energy Minister Michel Samson said he was pleased bythe development.

"When you keep in mind where the price of oil is today . . . tosee these types of investments being made and expressions ofinterest in our offshore, I think it's a great sign of confidence."

Samson said more work would have to be done, includingenvironmental assessments before Statoil would get final approvalfor drilling.

If approval is granted by federal and Nova Scotia officials, theregulatory board said it would issue two exploration licences onJan. 15.

Statoil manages business operations in over 30 countries and has offshore operations near Newfoundland and Labrador.

The company now wants toexplore two of nine parcels about 200 kilometres off Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore.Statoil's work expenditure bid for parcel one is $5,815,000. For parcel two, they've committed $76,185,000.

Fisheries concerns

Those sites, however,are important to lobster, scallop andgroundfishfisheries.

"All of those fisheries are potentially in danger and it's well in excess of a billion dollars annually to the economy of Nova Scotia and it deserves to be protected," said John Davis, director of the Clean Ocean Action Committee.

He says the parcels are just east of Georges Bank and sit on the Scotian Shelf. Parcel one shares a border with a drilling moratorium area, he says, and the second is northeast of that.

Roger LeBlanc, a representative of the Maritime Fishermen's Union, said the federal and provincial governments are putting money ahead of the fisheries.

"We don't want to go all out west," he told Radio-Canada's Fernande Devost. "Our blood is in southwest Nova and we want to stay here, but we want a healthy fishery."

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The release from the province saysstrategic environmental assessments have been conducted. Though exploration licences have been issued, there are still conditions Statoil will be required to meet.

"The CNSOPB will require a project-specific environmental assessment to be conducted for any proposed offshore work and must be satisfied that itis unlikely to cause significant adverse environmental effects before issuing any authorization," said Stuart Pinks, the petroluem board's CEO.

Davis says he wants regulations that will force companies to pledge to cleanupany spills and to commit to not spraying chemical dispersants.

"To date, it [environmental impacts]has not been taken into account," he says.