Authorizations & Approvals
Authorizations

In order to obtain an authorization, the Operator must ensure that the statutory and regulatory requirements pertaining to the work or activity are satisfied. These matters pertain to:

  • Safety
  • Environment
  • Resource Management
  • Exploration
  • Legal and Land
  • Industrial Benefits

Where an Operator seeks an authorization to carry out work or activity relating to developing a pool or field, a Development Plan must first be approved, unless consent to issue the authorization is otherwise granted by both the provincial and federal governments. Exploration activities and other activities that do not involve development activities can be carried out without a Development Plan Approval.

The three types of authorizations administered by the C-NLOPB include:

  • Operations Authorization
  • Geophysical Program Authorization
  • Diving Program Authorization

Operations Authorization

An Operations Authorization enables the Operator to group a series of activites into a single application where the work or activity concerns a similar activity or where several activities are to be conducted in sequence. An Operations Authorization may include drilling operations, production operations, well operations and other related activities such as wellsite seabed surveys and vertical seismic profiling. Other related approvals, such as the approval of the safety plan, environmental protection plan, field data acquisition plan and other regulatory approvals can also be dealt with in the context of the Operations Authorization.

The scope of the Operations Authorization will depend on the activities to be undertaken by the Operator during the temporal period of the authorization, which is typically set at three years. The requisite statutory and regulatory requirements pertaining to the proposed work or activity must be satisfied in order for it to be included in the scope of the authorization. For example, the environmental assessment process respecting the scope of the activity must be completed before an Operations Authorization can be issued and an approved Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Benefits Plan must be in place before the activity can be authorized. Similarly, all other statutory requirements that are pre-requisites to the issuance of a work authorization must be met before the activity can be authorized. The packaging of activities as well as the installations to be included in the Operations Authorization will be determined on a case-by-case basis in consultation with the Operator.

In the case of a producing project that involves drilling, production and well intervention activities, the following authorizations and approvals could typically be combined into the Operations Authorization:

  • authorization of the drilling program pursuant to section 5 of the Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Drilling Regulations;
  • authorization of production operations pursuant to section 8 of the Newfoundland Offshore Area Petroleum Production and Conservation Regulations;
  • authorization of well operations pursuant to section 17 of the Newfoundland Offshore Area Petroleum Production and Conservation Regulations;
  • authorization of vertical seismic profile (VSP) programs pursuant to section 138 of the Canada-Newfoundland Atlantic Accord Implementation Act;
  • authorization of wellsite seabed surveys pursuant to section 138 of the Canada-Newfoundland Atlantic Accord Implementation Act;
  • approval of the Safety Plan pursuant to subsection 51(4) of the Newfoundland Offshore Area Petroleum Production and Conservation Regulations;
  • approval of the Training Plan pursuant to subsection 62(2) of the Newfoundland Offshore Area Petroleum Production and Conservation Regulations;
  • approval of the Environmental Protection Plan – Production pursuant to subsection 51(5) of the Newfoundland Offshore Area Petroleum Production and Conservation Regulations;
    • approval of the use of spill countermeasures chemicals, paragraph 113 (b);
    • approval of the disposal of sewage, gallery or other domestic waste, paragraph 114 (a);
    • approval of the disposal of waste fluid and drill cuttings, paragraph 112 (b); and
    • approval of the disposal of any spent acid, paragraph 114 (c);
  • approval of the Field Data Acquisition Program including:
    • approval of the well data acquisition plan;
    • approval of the field coring program pursuant to section 11 of the Newfoundland Offshore Area Petroleum Production and Conservation Regulations; and
    • approval of the production testing program pursuant to section 12 of the Newfoundland Offshore Area Petroleum Production and Conservation Regulations;
  • approval to pre-drill development wells (to the conductor or surface casing point);
  • approval to terminate (complete) development wells; and
  • approval of certain well operations as described below.

The Operations Authorization process governing “producing projects” would typically include authorization of well operations pursuant to section 17 of the Newfoundland Offshore Area Petroleum Production and Conservation Regulations. In such cases, the application for Operations Authorization would describe the Operator’s policies, procedures and practices related to workovers and other well interventions and would provide a generic listing of the proposed well intervention operations and activities anticipated during the life of the project. This enables the C-NLOPB to deal with well operation programs at the Operations Authorization stage and to approve various types of workovers and well interventions at the time that the Operations Authorization is issued. The approval to terminate (complete) development wells may also be included as part of the Operations Authorization subject to the need to file specific information respecting the interval to be completed with the C-NLOPB at the appropriate time.

An application for Operations Authorization may be made by submitting the Operations Authorization form, accompanied by an Application Document to the Policy and Regulatory Coordination Division.

Typically, the Operations Authorization process should commence approximately six months prior to the date it is needed (see Operations Authorization Schedule). Pre-consultations on specific regulatory requirements and expectations is encouraged in advance of the Operations Authorization process.

Geophysical Program Authorization

Operators applying to undertake a seismic program, a wellsite seabed survey, vertical seismic profiling, an electromagnetic program, or any other type of geological or geophysical program, including a program that does not involve any fieldwork, or a geotechnical program or an environmental program may obtain a Geophysical Program Authorization by submitting an application to the Policy and Regulatory Coordination Division. For producing projects, wellsite seabed surveys and vertical seismic profiling can be addressed as part of the Operations Authorization.

The process for obtaining a Geophysical Program Authorization and a description of the information to be provided in support of the application for authorization is described in the Geophysical, Geological, Environmental and Geotechnical Program Guidelines.

To expedite the application and approval process for various types of activities, one of the following forms should be used:

The various regulations, guidelines and other information pertaining to these activities are described under the Exploration section of this website.

Diving Program Authorization

A Diving Program Authorization may be obtained by submitting a Diving Program Authorization form to the Policy and Regulatory Coordination Division. The application should be made six months in advance of the anticipated commencement date of the program.

In addition to the various statutory and regulatory requirements pertaining to all work authorizations, the Newfoundland Offshore Area Petroleum Diving Regulations describe the information that is required to be provided in support of a Diving Program Authorization.

Divers must possess a Diving Certificate issued by the Diver Certification Board of Canada (DCBC).

For each dive undertaken as part of a Diving Program a Notification of a Dive Notification to Dive must be filed with the C-NLOPB.