ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — The next step for the West White Rose project will be known this morning.
Premier Andrew Furey, federal Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan will be joined by Husky Energy’s Jonathan Brown and Karen Winsor, chair of the Oil and Gas Recovery Taskforce or a news conference this morning in St. John's.
In late-September, Furey and O’Regan announced a $320-million federal contribution through the Hibernia Dividend Agreement. That agreement first resulted in $2.5 billion coming to the province from 2019 to 2056.
“We need to unlock that value for the workers of the province. I’m pretty sure this taskforce would agree with that, I’m pretty sure Noia and some of the other stakeholders around the province would agree it's important to invest in the workers,” said Furey at the September press conference.
Furey immediately established the Oil and Gas Recovery Taskforce, chaired by Winsor and Bill Fanning, president and Canada country manager of Kvaerner.
The taskforce, whose membership and terms of reference were confirmed on Oct. 15, was given 90 days to report to government with recommendations for how the $320-million fund would be spent.
The oil and gas platform, due to sit on a 210,000 tonne concrete platform 350 kilometres east of St. John’s, had work halted in March due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The project was being constructed in Argentia, with as many as 700 jobs associated with the platform’s construction.
Work was approximately 60 per cent complete on the platform when work was suspended, before the company announced in September it was reviewing the future of the project. In late-October, the company cancelled all work on the project through 2021.
Also in late-October, Husky Energy announced a $23.6-billion merger with Alberta-based Cenovus Energy.
