Approximately 66 million barrels of oil were extracted from offshore Newfoundland and Labrador between January and August 2021, representing a decline of 6.9% over the same period in 2020. The corresponding value of production increased by 41.6% as higher prices more than offset the production decline. Average crude oil prices declined sharply early in 2020 (US$32/barrel in March 2020), but recently surpassed pre-pandemic levels (US$71/barrel in August 2021). Meanwhile, the Canada-US exchange incurred an appreciation from 73.6 cents/US dollar in the first eight months of 2020 to 80.0 cents/US dollar in the same period of 2021.

Production decreased at every oilfield in January-August 2021, in comparison to the same months in 2020. Production was down at both Hibernia and White Rose, which are both facing depleting reserves. The Hebron platform has been ramping up operations since first oil in 2017 and is now considered to be in steady-state production operations. As a result, production from Hebron varied slightly (down 1.8%) from Jan-Aug 2020. Production at Terra Nova has been shut down since December 2019 due to an order from the C-NLOPB for non-compliance with required inspections and repairs, followed by complications arising from impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Terra Nova FPSO was initially scheduled to undergo extensive servicing in 2020, but this plan was put on hold and the vessel remains moored in Bull Arm. An agreement on the life extension project of the ship was announced in September.

Further information on the province’s oil and gas industry is available in The Economy 2021 (see Oil and Gas section).