ST. JOHN’S, NL — Newfoundland and Labrador’s petroleum industry regulator is releasing its 2022 tender for new offshore exploration permits.

The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board invites oil companies to bid on permits for 38 parcels of land totaling nearly 100,000 square kilometers off the east coast of Newfoundland.

Ottawa delayed the call for tenders at the end of March by about a month and a half because it wanted more time to review the process.

The delay has caused anxiety in the oil sector because it came three weeks after federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault delayed approval of another proposal, the controversial oil project in deep waters of Bay du Nord off St. John’s. The Minister gave the green light to this project at the beginning of April.

The tender coincides with environmental law group Ecojustice announcing that it has filed to have Bay du Nord’s Guilbeault’s approval reviewed by the Federal Court.

The application for judicial review filed May 6 makes numerous allegations, including that Guilbeault failed to account for emissions downstream from the project, which are produced when the oil is ultimately burned as fuel.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on May 11, 2022.

The Canadian Press