Equinor and BP have decided to postponed their ground breaking and challenging Bay du Nord project offshore eastern Canada for three years.
Set to be the first ever development in the deep-water Flemish Pass basin offshore Newfoundland & Labrador, Bay du Nord came with a nominal price tag of almost US$10 billion and was centred on a 200,000 barrel per day FPSO linked to a huge subsea production system.
The project was originally put on hold due to costs and Covid, but after a some nearby discoveries beefed up resources and controversially securing the environmental all-clear form Ottawa, it was on the march again.
Until today.
Equinor sent Upstream a statement that in order to “improve project robustness in the face of challenging market conditions, Equinor, together with its partner BP, will postpone the Bay du Nord development project up to three years.”
Tore Loseth, country manager for Equinor Canada, said: “We will utilise this postponement to continue to actively mature Bay du Nord towards a successful development.”
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In recent months, due in large part to volatile market conditions, the Bay du Nord project has experienced significant cost increases in many aspects of the development, said the statement, while highlighting the project remains important to the company.
“Within the context of the changing market with increased cost, we will now look at the project again to see if we can do further optimisations to our concept and strategies,” said Trond Bokn, Equinor’s senior vice president for project development.
Bay du Nord comprises five discoveries, with significant additional near field prospectivity.
Equinor continues to assess exploration drilling around the Bay du Nord field in 2024 and, Upstream reported this month, could drill two more prospects, Sitka and Bakeapple.
Loseth stressed that despite this decision, “Canada is one of Equinor’s core areas and through both our partner-operated assets and Bay du Nord, we maintain a very strong business in the country.
“We are also encouraged by the strong support in Newfoundland and Labrador and Canada for the project and look forward to the future development of Bay du Nord.”
In November 2022, Equinor and its partners pushed back by up to four years the final investment decision for the deep-water Wisting oilfield development offshore Norway after predicted costs spiralled by some 60%.
The Norwegian operator said that the Wisting co-venturers are now continuing to mature the project and are now aiming for an investment “by end of 2026”.