Today, Noia congratulated the Hebron Public Review Commission team led by Commissioner Miller Ayre on the 64 recommendations contained in its thorough and insightful review of the Hebron development application.
“Noia supports the Hebron project and is eager to see this offshore development move forward,” said Robert Cadigan, Noia president and CEO.
“Noia members have a stake in the responsible development of the province’s offshore industry – enabling the local business community and workforce to grow dynamically with each project and build our expertise and capability to do more work on future oil and gas projects,” explained Mr. Cadigan.
“We believe the recommendations of the Hebron Public Review Commission will help the local industry accomplish these goals.”
Noia noted it was pleased to see a number of their recommendations made to the Hebron Public Review Commission were addressed in the report released today/Tuesday.
As a condition of the CNLOPB’s approval of the Hebron project, the Commissioner recommends the proponent “make significant improvements” to the development application. Among the Commission’s recommendations:
-
That the CNLOPB make it a priority to issue new guidelines for the standardized and timely publication of expressions of interest (EOIs), pre-qualification results and tender awards for the development phase of the projects. - Noia believes this recommendation would provide a more consistent procurement process that would be followed from project to project.
-
The Commissioner recommends the proponent vigorously review its pending contract notices to ensure “where the capacity of local industry permits, bid packages are scaled to suit that capacity.” - Noia believes this recommendation will enable local businesses full and fair opportunity to take part in the Newfoundland & Labrador offshore industry. By issuing smaller bid packages that match the capabilities and capacity of local service and supply companies, small- and medium-sized companies will be able to bid on work they can do.
-
The Commissioner recommends the Utilities and Process Module (UPM) contract award require the successful yard to supply a detailed breakdown of supplies, services and sub-assemblies for the project, and to locate a representative in the province to encourage local participation in the sub-contracting bid process.
-
As a condition to the fundamental decision, the Commissioner recommends the CNLOPB require the proponent to provide assurance that topsides modules defined in the 2008 Benefits Agreement are “substantially fabricated in the province.” -The Commissioner’s report also notes the current controversy surrounding the drilling equipment set and where that module will be fabricated. According to the Benefits Agreement, the drilling equipment set is one of three modules to be built in the province subject to labour and yard capacity. So far, the Hebron proponent has said two of those modules – the living quarter’s unit and the drilling support module – will be built in the province. A decision is pending on where the drilling equipment set will be built.
-
The Commissioner recommends Pool 3, a potential subsea tie-back that could further develop the Hebron oilfield, be excluded from the fundamental decision for the Hebron project. Instead, the Commissioner recommends the proponent submit a separate application to develop Pool 3. The Commissioner also recommends this Pool 3 application include a separate benefits plan. -Noia made a similar recommendation in its Nov. 21, 2011, presentation to the Hebron public review session.
-
The Commissioner recommends the CNLOPB, in consultation with the local supply community and labour, further refine its benefits reporting process to enable direct evaluation of benefits performance against benchmarks outlined in the Benefits Agreement and an updated Benefits Plan. -Noia concurs with this recommendation. While the CNLOPB issued updated guidelines on Feb. 1 – which does improve the benefits reporting process – Noia believes additional steps are necessary to enable comparisons between targeted benefits goals and actual benefits achievements.