STEPHENVILLE, N.L. — Environmental groups view as a victory Corridor Resources not extending its license for the Old Harry oil and gas drilling project in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Lesley Rideout, communications lead with the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB), said the company didn’t file a drilling deposit to extend the license, so the land reverted to the Newfoundland and Labrador Crown on Jan. 15.
There is now no license on that parcel of land, which lies below the ocean in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. However, through the C-NLOPB’s land tenure process, it could potentially be nominated for a future call for bids.
In a press release from Halifax-based Corridor Resources Inc. in 2018, the company announced it had suspended exploratory work on the Old Harry project for the foreseeable future.
The company said it had completed a geotechnical analysis and determined that it wouldn't be prudent to continue with additional capital spending.
The St. Lawrence Coalition had been advocating for a moratorium on oil and gas exploration in the entire Gulf of St. Lawrence region for more than a decade, so they’re pleased with this development.
“For years, an unprecedented movement of people and organizations sent a clear message: the Gulf of St. Lawrence is too precious to be subjected to the risks associated with oil and gas exploration. This mobilization seems to have been successful as the message was heard," said Sylvain Archambault, spokesperson for the environmental group in a prepared statement.
He noted other factors may have played a role in the decision to drop the project.
Archambault said, according to the last technical analysis ordered by Corridor Resources, the Old Harry site appears to contain natural gas rather than oil, and its potential was overestimated. Corridor Resources said its analysis has determined more complexity than previously suggested and it now believes the prospect could be more "gas prone than oil prone" and the overall quantities could be less than originally estimated.
Corridor Resources says it has determined a three-dimensional seismic survey should be conducted before an exploration well is drilled and added that it has been unable to attract a joint venture partner.
“Abandoning this project makes even more sense in these current times, as we must lay to rest unexploited fossil fuels in order to achieve our objectives to fight climate change and as ocean protection becomes crucial,” Louise Hénault-Éthier, science project manager with the David Suzuki Foundation, said in the St. Lawrence Coalition release.
Alice Anne-Simard, Nature Québec’s general director, said although they are happy with the withdrawal of the Old Harry project on the Newfoundland side, it could eventually be revived on the Quebec side of the geological feature.
“Corridor Resources still owns two exploration licences on the Quebec side of the Old Harry deposit. No drilling project is planned now, but if Quebec and Canada put in place an appropriate regulatory framework, the threat of drilling in the Gulf could become real again in the future,” she said.
Danielle Giroux, Attention Frag’Île’s general director, said there is still a significant risk overshadowing the ecosystems and coastal communities that depend on the Gulf’s health for their survival, and it would take a complete moratorium banning oil and gas exploration activities in the entire Gulf to remove this risk.
The Sierra Club Canada Foundation is also pleased the licence to explore for oil and gas in the Gulf has been allowed to lapse.
Gretchen Fitzgerald, the foundation’s national program director, said the need to protect the Gulf is even greater and, with their allies, they continue to call for a complete moratorium on oil and gas in that location.
“Right whales in the Gulf have suffered heartbreaking losses in the last two years. They simply cannot withstand impacts of seismic blasting, oil drilling or a massive spill,” she said.
Fitzgerald said the Sierra Club will fight any move to blast and drill in the Gulf.
“This needs to be a safe home for whales and other marine life, and the coastal communities that rely on a healthy Gulf,” she said.
Fitzgerald said they still need to know if the offshore board can extend leases indefinitely, and essentially use legitimate concerns raised by the public and Indigenous groups about environmentally risky projects as an excuse to keep those same risky projects alive beyond their best-before date.
She said as the Newfoundland and Labrador government plans to drill 100 new exploration wells in the next 10 years, and two licences remain in the Gulf, a decision from the justice system on this question is crucial.
