Latest news with #SeaRoseFPSO
CBC
10-04-2025
- Business
- CBC
N.L. is betting big on expensive oil. Politicians say the wager will pay off
Newfoundland and Labrador released its financial forecast for the coming fiscal year, but while the price of oil has been volatile, two ministers are confident in its future. The province is projecting a $372-million deficit this coming year to address affordability issues and tariff concerns and rising health-care costs. In Wednesday's budget, the Department of Finance announced that it expects Brent crude oil prices to average $73.90 US per barrel in 2025. The province also projects that offshore royalties will account for 15 per cent of the province's projected revenue for 2025-26. As of April 9, Brent crude oil was pegged at $60.38 US per barrel, well under that projection. Finance Minister Siobhan Coady said the government used 11 different forecasters, who are independent of the government, to reach that dollar figure. "It's an evolving, moving, escalating and declining kind of graph," Coady told reporters on Wednesday. Newfoundland and Labrador could also be in a situation where oil prices decline or increase throughout the year, she added. "We'll be monitoring, obviously, this very closely and we may need to make changes to what we do," she said. Coady said shifting prices might mean the department has to make adjustments in the fall fiscal update, "Because we'll know then what's happened, what the impacts have been. And where the global uncertainties are at that point," she said. In 2024, crude oil production hit 76.5 million barrels, up from 2023. The government expects oil production to increase in the year ahead, citing the restart of the SeaRose FPSO in March. In its budget documents, the province says it doesn't expect to be hit with U.S. tariffs, and predicted the impact to Newfoundland and Labrador's oil sector will be minimal. More to lose Tthe Hebron project hit a milestone that kicked in higher royalties last summer, with the money paid out to the province rising from 5 per cent to 26. 5 per cent. But with the recent volatility of oil prices, the province could stand to lose more money. Coady said the price of oil versus the strength of the dollar "can cancel each other out." "Let's see where the year fleshes out between those two," she said. "Again, we're in a period of global volatility." This year's budget earmarked $90 million, divided up over three years, to encourage oil exploration. That money would kick in next year. It was a move welcomed by Energy N.L. CEO Charlene Johnson. "This is a great investment into attracting companies here, and we really think it will do what it needs to do," she said. Energy Minister Andrew Parsons expressed confidence when he said that the current political instability due to the U.S. trade war and volatile oil prices would not affect offshore exploration. "I've only been here five years and I've seen it go top to bottom, bottom to top. This stuff happens all the time," he said. It can be a "challenge" because of the province's reliance on high prices, he said, but he said there will be future projects. "This is even more volatile than normal, but just in my time here we saw 2020 [and] had to get really involved," he said. He said the oil sector is better positioned than it was when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
CBC
20-02-2025
- Business
- CBC
West White Rose project on target for first oil in 2026, Cenovus reports
Social Sharing Production in the White Rose oil field in offshore Newfoundland and Labrador will resume in the coming days, while an expensive satellite project called West White Rose is also on target for first oil in 2026. Calgary-based Cenovus Energy gave those updates Thursday while releasing the company's latest financial results. The company is the operator and majority owner of the White Rose field and satellite extensions. The overhaul for the SeaRose floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel is complete, the vessel is back on station 350 kilometres east of St. John's, and is reconnected to the White Rose field. Production is scheduled to resume "by the end of February," according to a Cenovus news release. The SeaRose FPSO began production on the Grand Banks two decades ago, and is one of four producing fields in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin. The 271-metre long SeaRose ceased operations in early 2024 and travelled to the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland for the refit. The FPSO produced more than 6.6 million barrels of crude in 2022, according to the offshore regulator, and was originally scheduled to resume production last summer. Meanwhile, Cenovus reports that all mechanical work is now complete on the concrete gravity structure (CGS) and topsides for the West White Rose project. The CGS, at 145 metres tall and weighing 200,000 tonnes, was constructed inside a unique graving dock at the Port of Argentia. The topsides were build at a yard in Ingleside, Texas. The plan is to flood the graving dock with 19 metres of seawater from Placentia Bay this spring or summer, float the CGS to its location in the White Rose oil field, and fix it to the seabed in roughly 120 metres of water. The topsides will simultaneously be floated from Texas, and mated with the structure. "The focus of the project in 2025 will be on the installation and commissioning of the platform," the company said, adding that the project is now 88 per cent complete and "on schedule for first oil in 2026." Daily production from the West White Rose is expected to reach 80,000 barrels of oil per day. The new platform will be capable of drilling up to 40 wells in the White Rose oil field, but unlike other platforms such as Hibernia and Hebron, it will not refine or store the oil. Instead, it will send the oil back to the nearby SeaRose FPSO through a series of subsea flowlines. The SeaRose life extension and the West White Rose extension is expected to extend the life of the oil field by 14 years.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
West White Rose project on target for first oil in 2026, Cenovus reports
Production in the White Rose oil field in offshore Newfoundland and Labrador will resume in the coming days, while an expensive satellite project called West White Rose is also on target for first oil in 2026. Calgary-based Cenovus Energy gave those updates Thursday while releasing the company's latest financial results. The company is the operator and majority owner of the White Rose field and satellite extensions. The overhaul for the SeaRose floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel is complete, the vessel is back on station 350 kilometres east of St. John's, and is reconnected to the White Rose field. Production is scheduled to resume "by the end of February," according to a Cenovus news release. The SeaRose FPSO began production on the Grand Banks two decades ago, and is one of four producing fields in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin. The SeaRose FPSO, which is used to produce, store and offload oil from the White Rose field in offshore Newfoundland, is seen here in a 2012 photo during a previous refit at a shipyard in Ireland. The FPSO has undergone a life extension refit, and is scheduled to resume production in the coming days. (Cenovus) The 271-metre long SeaRose ceased operations in early 2024 and travelled to the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland for the refit. The FPSO produced more than 6.6 million barrels of crude in 2022, according to the offshore regulator, and was originally scheduled to resume production last summer. Meanwhile, Cenovus reports that all mechanical work is now complete on the concrete gravity structure (CGS) and topsides for the West White Rose project. The CGS, at 145 metres tall and weighing 200,000 tonnes, was constructed inside a unique graving dock at the Port of Argentia. The topsides were build at a yard in Ingleside, Texas. The plan is to flood the graving dock with 19 metres of seawater from Placentia Bay this spring or summer, float the CGS to its location in the White Rose oil field, and fix it to the seabed in roughly 120 metres of water. The topsides will simultaneously be floated from Texas, and mated with the structure. "The focus of the project in 2025 will be on the installation and commissioning of the platform," the company said, adding that the project is now 88 per cent complete and "on schedule for first oil in 2026." Daily production from the West White Rose is expected to reach 80,000 barrels of oil per day. The new platform will be capable of drilling up to 40 wells in the White Rose oil field, but unlike other platforms such as Hibernia and Hebron, it will not refine or store the oil. Instead, it will send the oil back to the nearby SeaRose FPSO through a series of subsea flowlines. The SeaRose life extension and the West White Rose extension is expected to extend the life of the oil field by 14 years. Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Click here to visit our landing page.
