The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board
(C-NLOPB) released its Annual Report today for the fiscal year 2009-10, ending on March 31, 2010. This report is available in both English and French.

The C-NLOPB Annual Report includes highlights from the areas of Safety, Environmental Protection, Resource Management, Exploration, Land Rights Issuance and Industrial Benefits.

2009-10 was a very busy year for the C-NLOPB, particularly in the areas of safety and environmental protection. The Board established the Inquiry into Matters Respecting Helicopter Passenger Safety for Workers in the Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area. Board staff appeared twice before the Commissioner and responded to the information needs of the Commissioner throughout the process.

This year, the C-NLOPB is chair of the 2010 International Offshore Safety Conference to be held in Vancouver, B.C., from October 17-21, 2010. The Conference is organized by the International Regulators Forum (IRF), which is a group of offshore safety regulators from eight nations.

The C-NLOPB completed the Southern Newfoundland and Labrador Strategic Environmental Assessment.

The C-NLOPB has been working to provide more information to the public through its website. This year, the C-NLOPB was able to provide a large volume of Environmental Project Reports and Environmental Effects Monitoring (EEM) Reports on its website. Efforts are on-going to make more information electronically available.

Successful bids were received on all four parcels offered in the 2009 Calls for Bids, totaling $47,000,211. This was the first time a call for bids was held in the Laurentian Subbasin.

Hibernia Management and Development Company’s (HMDC) Development Plan application for the AA Block was approved in 2009. The AA Block is estimated to contain 48 million barrels of oil.

Construction began on the expansion of the Core Storage and Research Centre (CSRC) to accommodate the growing volume of well material from the Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area.

Statoil Canada was issued a significant discovery licence, SDL 1047, effective February 22, 2010.

During 2009, expenditures related to work in the Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area amounted to $2.15 billion, directly accounting for 40% of the province’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

As of December 31, 2009, 3,518 persons were working in direct support of petroleum related activity in the Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area, which was almost 1.6% of total employment in the province.

Further information on the C-NLOPB and a copy of the Annual Report for 2009-10 is available from the Board’s website at www.cnlopb.nl.ca or by e-mailing a request to information@cnlopb.nl.ca.

Media Contact:
Sean Kelly M.A., APR, FCPRS
Manager of Public Relations
(709) 778-1418
(709) 689-0713 (cell)
skelly@cnlopb.nl.ca