'If there's no Bay du Nord, what is there?': Reaction pours in from Equinor's bombshell news
CBC
The mood of Energy N.L.'s annual industry conference and exhibition changed with one email — at exactly 12:26 p.m. on Wednesday — smack-dab in the middle of a conference that kicked off a day earlier with the theme of "unrivalled opportunity."
That kind of sunny optimism turned to grey reality when Norweigian oil giant Equinor issued a statement, saying it was delaying the massive Bay du Nord project for up to three years due to market volatility.
Energy N.L. president Charlene Johnson said she had a brief heads up the news was coming. Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey said it came as a surprise.
And with that, the viability of a $16 billion project was called into question.
Johnson called it disappointing. Furey stressed it wasn't a cancellation.
But Rob Strong — an industry veteran since 1979 — said it's far more serious than that.
"If there's no Bay du Nord, what is there?" he said.
Bay du Nord was going to be the first deep-water project in Canada, and there's been high hopes that BP would follow behind with a project the company is now exploring off the northeast coast of Newfoundland. Strong said Equinor's decision doesn't bode well for BP's chances.
"I mean you might get a little bit of exploration drilling in the future. But if Bay du Nord doesn't happen, will BP — assuming they discover something — will BP go ahead with it? So, this is serious stuff."
Newfoundland and Labrador's Opposition Leader, David Brazil, also questioned what a three-year delay means for the future of the industry.
"That's three years with thousands of jobs lost and billions in economic activity for workers and their families – if the project hasn't been shelved all together," he said.
On the surface, Equinor's decision may appear to come out of nowhere. After all, it was only a day earlier the province's energy minister, Andrew Parsons, spoke with reporters about the possibility of the province buying an equity stake in the project.
The head of Newfoundland and Labrador's Crown corporation for oil championed the project on Tuesday, saying the province was at the end of the first season in a three-part series. The first season included the Hebron and Hibernia project. The second season? Deep-water oil projects led by Bay du Nord.
So why did the decision arrive like an unwanted guest in the midst of the most optimistic energy conference in years?