'God knows we need it,' Earle McCurdy says of potential oil find
The NDP leader says recent seismic data showing a potential for 12 billion barrels of oil, if confirmed, would be a great boost for Newfoundland and Labrador.
On Thursday, Premier Paul Davis announced a recent study of 11 parcels of land up for bids next month showed the possibility of oil that would have a market value of up to $600 billion.
Earle McCurdy says it's still to be determined whether that oil can be recovered, but if so, it would be welcome news.
"Obviously if that does happen that would be very beneficial to the economy, and God knows we need it," said McCurdy.
"It's interesting timing right on the heels of the Muskrat Falls over-run announcement, which obviously is a very bad news day, so I guess it was a chance to change the channel on that one but the challenges remain from that still to be dealt with."
McCurdy said it's also good to see Nalcor as a government entity conducting the seismic surveying work off the province.
"I could never understand why that wasn't done all along," he said.
"It's really important not to have the oil companies be the holders of that information and the power that it conveys, but that the government in some fashion, through an agency like Nalcor, hold that and use that to drive the bidding."
He added the province shouldn't try and rush into changing the generic offshore royalty regime, which the province announced it would be looking to overhaul by November.
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"If it's done before the next round of bidding, fine, and if it's not done before then, that's fine too because the most important thing is to get the best deal we can for the people of the province," said McCurdy.
"And if that means it takes a little longer, so be it."
The 11 parcels of land are situated near previous discoveries in the Flemish Pass area, including Bay du Nord, Mizzen and Harpoon. The bids on the land will close Nov. 12.