Deep water, high stakes

Bay du Nord edges toward a decision, Hibernia breaks records at 29, West White Rose nears first oil, and the province bets on gas—a snapshot of Newfoundland and Labrador’s offshore energy sector in 2026.

A multibillion-dollar oil project 500 km off Newfoundland and Labrador’s northeast coast could anchor the province’s energy future for a decade—or it could still not happen at all. That is the tension surrounding Bay du Nord, which the industry has watched with a blend of hope and caution as it inches steadily, though not inevitably, toward a Final Investment Decision (FID).

Located in the deepwater Flemish Pass Basin, Bay du Nord was discovered in 2013. The operator is Equinor, which bought bp’s stake earlier this year to take 100 per cent ownership.

Shock waves rippled through the local industry in 2023, when Equinor suspended development and re-evaluated a project that until then had seemed to be humming along nicely. It was a sobering moment for an industry hungry for a new development. The project wasn’t dead, the company said, but “challenging market conditions” forced a reassessment.

Since then, it has been largely redesigned and is moving forward in steps, gaining momentum this year with several key milestones—including fiscal benefits and equity option agreements signed with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

In April, the Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) contract for the project’s Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel went to BW Offshore, with design due to be finalized by the end of 2026. Equinor also awarded a FEED contract for the subsea component to the Subsea Integration Alliance, a partnership of Subsea7 and SLB OneSubsea, and submitted its development plan to the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Energy Regulator (C-NLOER).

I’ll never forget the hundreds of coloured sticky notes plastered across every board and wall in our office. Those were the ideas that initiated the reshape.”

—Jim Beresford, VP of Equinor Canada

The most recent update came in June, when Jim Beresford, VP of Equinor Canada, spoke at the Energy NL Conference. He was candid about the uncertain days of 2023, saying that even when it was clear the project didn’t fit market realities, Equinor “didn’t walk away.”

 

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