Floater specialist BW Offshore has been awarded a contract for the pre-FEED study of the Bay du Nord FPSO by Norwegian oil major Equinor. Andreas Sohmen-Pao’s company said in a social media post that the Bay du Nord development marks an exciting step forward for the offshore energy sector in Canada. The project consists of several oil discoveries in the Flemish Pass basin, some 500 km northeast of St. John’s in Newfoundland and Labrador. The first discovery was made in 2013, followed by additional discoveries in 2014, 2016, and 2020. The development will involve at least eight subsea drill centres tied back to an FPSO capable of producing 200,000 bopd. Equinor and its partner on the project, BP, announced in 2023 that it would be shelving the Bay du Nord project for up to three years, citing a significant increase in costs in part due to a volatile market. The project has been a contentious one. It faced stiff opposition from different environmentalist groups, fishermen, and others for years. Just recently, in mid-November last year, environmental and Indigenous organisations took to the Federal Court of Appeal in Ottawa seeking to overturn the government’s approval of the Bay du Nord project. This hearing challenges the Environment Minister’s decision from April 2022 to allow the $16bn project to proceed. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1_95_0_1_2'); }); TagsCanada Norway