NEWFOUNDLAND without oil will set us back decades.

Without oil and gas this province will be hit incredibly hard for the next 20 years. The losses will be staggering! We have no idea how bad it will get, but I can assure you our youth will move away, oil suppliers will move out to new projects, our three decades of expertise will move to the places that are drilling, and projects will be shelved never to return.

The cost to Newfoundland and Canada, not having the greatest offshore oil region is the world is IMMEASURABLE and UNACCEPTABLE.

When a province is afraid of losing everything, the danger is we may settle for less than we deserve. We don’t have the luxury of being fearful right now. WE MUST BE THE LEADERS IN OFFSHORE EXPLORATION DRILLING and be the most attractive place in the world to invest in oil drilling. The outcome of anything less is SIMPLY NOT AN OPTION! Our actions must MAP DIRECTLY to our ambitions.

With the price of oil so low, it would be in Canada’s best interest to support oil drilling companies to stay and continue working and to attract new players into the region AS WELL AS BE be owners in our own projects.

We can’t afford to wait on anyone, including the federal government, to bail us out of this. We need to TAKE CONTROL of our industry and create structures, RIGHT NOW that are INCLUSIVE of all stake holders.

And why wouldn’t we? We are virtually COVID free, geographically we are in the best place in the world to send light crude oil to buying markets, we have 650 leads and prospects offshore that could lead to the next, and the next, and the next oil discovery. We could be the next Guyana or the next North Sea. YES, THAT IS HIGHLY POSSIBLE.

Canada’s offshore industry drilling opportunities HAVE TO BE MADE MORE attractive than Guyana and the North Sea. That’s our starting point. So we have to take all successful drilling regions of the world AND DO BETTER!

The ONLY conversations and meetings we should be having right now are about the SOLUTIONS, and STRUCTURES needed to put us as the #1 Region to Invest in oil drilling IN THE WORLD! Is that assertive, idealistic, aggressive or over the top? Damn straight it is, and that’s the type of entrepreneurial action we need to make it happen.

Here’s a list of things we can do as a start:

1. Defer land sales and have a land lottery. Give away 20 land parcels to stimulate drilling now. (An analogy of this: If you had free land would you be more inclined to buy a house even if finances were tight?)

2. Defer royalty payouts for those that drill, for a certain number of years so that retained earnings are higher for oil companies, the province, and Canada.

3. Promise 3-month environmental approval processes to ensure drilling is not delayed. This would have to be guaranteed at the Federal level.

4. Ensure oil companies, major contractors and suppliers who are here already don’t leave, give them tax holidays to support what they need to stay on project as well as support for employees. Ask oil companies what they need…. to move forward and customize solutions based on need.

5. Be owners in our projects – Norway held an ownership position in their projects by as much as 60%. Why aren’t we? They ended up with the most significant financial advantage in the world and a booming trust fund of over a $Trillion. They lead the world in oil development and now investments as a DIRECT RESULT of being a PRO-ACTIVE leader with their oil and gas resources.

6. Build the case for why this is Canada’s offshore oil industry and prove how much it brings to the Canadian economy and the people of Newfoundland. Then look at where we will be without it. If we don’t take the most aggressive stand, we will lose out. We must become the top place to invest and drill if we lose our operators and our opportunity – you may as well forget it. Newfoundland will be desolate. (NOIA is doing a great job of tallying the numbers – that should all be public knowledge and all over the news).

7. Technology is advancing at such a rapid rate that offshore operations can now be supported with unmanned rigs, onshore operations, and subsea power distribution. These are revolutionizing advances that give us new advantages. We need a technological team implementing these solutions into our offshore industry. Our province should be world leaders in advanced technology offshore. That is a sustainable model.

8. Unite the oil industry with the collective intelligence of ideas and solutions that will steer the industry to achieve the goal and sustain the goal of being the best place in the world to invest. We have three decades and thousands of companies with world-class experience and, therefore, world-class solutions. Let’s use it. This is the era of collaboration – let’s create a collective intelligence pool, for the good of all.

9. Unite our people, media and communications platforms with the goal of elevating our people, our province and our opportunities. This is key. We can’t get anywhere fighting amongst ourselves. We did it with Covid-19 we can damn well do it with our future.

There is NO TIME TO WASTE! None. It’s a NOW thing. It’s a ONE TIME WINDOW OPPORTUNITY! Getting companies back later is NOT AN OPTION.

All these things and more should have happened four months ago. Are you willing to wait for this province to go down – while everyone is wondering what to do?
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Not willing to sit around and do nothing? READY TO ACT NOW?

If you would like to take action in a way that will make a difference let us know. We’ll bring your ideas forward. We can publish them if you like. We can provide you with an opportunity to be heard,. If you desire, we can put you on a collaborative team of unified voices.

Please email your TAKE ACTIONS for the future of Newfoundland’s Offshore: Tinaolivero@theogm.com or CALL NOW 709 770-0677

We can’t afford the luxury of being fearful or playing small.
RISE UP – It’s time.