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NOIA Golf Tournament
Thursday, 16 Sep 2010
  
5th International Symposium on Oil and Gas Resources in Western Newfoundland
Wednesday, 22 Sep 2010
  
Maritime Human Resource Conference
Tuesday, 28 Sep 2010
  
Networking Social
Thursday, 28 Oct 2010
  
Member Christmas Reception
Thursday, 9 Dec 2010
  Lorneville Mechanical Contractors
  Martin Industrial Group
  Spatial Energistics Group Inc.
  Tailwinds
  Weatherford Laboratories
 
NOIA News
Reducing Timelines and Increasing Competitiveness
NOIA’s Policy and Research Committees are always interested in the perspective of our members and are pleased to have a regular opportunity to communicate to the NOIA membership the issues and initiatives that affect the East Coast Canada oil and gas industry as a business environment. The Atlantic Energy Roundtable is an ongoing initiative that the NOIA’s Policy and Research Committee’s have been actively involved in, with great success. NOIA is proud to have played a role in moving forward with initiatives such as duty remission on Mobile Operating Drilling Units (MODUs) and will continue to work towards improving the business environment for our members and for potential investors in the region.

In the 2002 Speech from the Throne, the federal government introduced the Smart Regulation Initiative with the goal of promoting sustainability and economic growth while reducing the administrative burden on businesses.  Improving the business environment in the East Coast Canada oil and gas industry has been a goal of industry participants in recent years.  The importance of this issue is reflected in the work of the Atlantic Energy Roundtable, which has made significant progress towards the goals of Smart Regulation.  

In May 2004, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) released a draft Memoranda of Understanding on Effective, Coordinated and Concurrent Environmental Assessment and Regulatory Processes for Offshore Petroleum Development Projects in Accord Areas.  Two Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) have been developed, one for Newfoundland and Labrador and one for Nova Scotia.  

The MOUs are the result the ongoing work that has taken place through the Atlantic Energy Roundtable and the Regulatory Issues Working Group.  Beginning in January 2004, almost a dozen federal and provincial bodies set out to develop these agreements.  This collaboration is, in itself, a positive step towards increased cooperation and a more efficient regulatory environment.

The aim of the MOUs is to ensure that existing federal and provincial regulatory and environmental assessment processes are carried out in an effective and efficient manner. By facilitating cooperation among the government agencies and departments that are involved in environmental assessment and regulatory processes, it is expected that project review times will be reduced.

Continuing its participation in the roundtable process, NOIA made a submission to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency during the public consultation process.  NOIA believes that the concurrent processing of CEAA requirements with other regulatory processes will have a positive affect on the competitiveness of the East Coast Canada oil and gas industry, largely through the reduction in timelines. Overall, the MOUs demonstrate the progress of the Regulatory Issues Working Group and are a positive step towards improving regulatory efficiency.  

The most significant development resulting from the MOUs is the move toward parallel processing of regulatory documents, including those related to environmental assessment and the development plan application.  

Parallel processing was previously identified as a streamlining process in A Review of Regulatory Cycle Times in Certain Jurisdictions (also known as the Gaffney-Cline report), commissioned by the Regulatory Issues Steering Committee of the Atlantic Energy Roundtable in August 2003.  In other jurisdictions, concurrent processing has resulted in a significant reduction in approval times.

The timeline for approval of the White Rose project, outlined in the Gaffney-Cline report, demonstrates the potential impact of concurrent processing.  While the official regulatory process for White Rose began in January, the CEAA process began in March 2000.  The concurrent process identified by the MOU for the Newfoundland and Labrador offshore area has the potential to significantly reduce the overall regulatory timeline and result in greater predictability within the process.  

The MOU represents an increased willingness among government departments to cooperate and facilitate the flow of information throughout the regulatory process. The coordination of information requirements and the exchange of information in general is a positive development for the East Coast Canada regulatory environment. Communication among regulators was identified by NOIA in the June 2003 submission to the Regulatory Issues Steering Committee’s Lessons Learned Workshop. Regulatory efficiency should begin at the level of the agencies and departments involved in the regulatory process and continue throughout the process. This requires good relationships and the free exchange of information between parties.  

In a move toward the ‘one – window’ regulatory system recommended by NOIA, the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NOPB) and the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NSOPB) are identified as a primary point of contact.  All information, including environmental assessment information required by the CEAA and Accord Acts, may be submitted by the proponent in a single filing to the board.  Also, through the MOUs, the boards will establish project coordination teams to ensure that other responsibilities regarding concurrent processing will be carried out effectively.

In an effort to identify “overlap or duplication of processes and efforts between various regulatory agencies. . .” the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) has compiled a set of documents known as the ‘Regulatory Roadmaps.’  These documents have been used throughout the industry to underscore the need for increased regulatory efficiency. These roadmaps list all departments and agencies, both federal and provincial, that have regulatory authority in the particular offshore area dealt with by the roadmap.

Signatories to the MOU affecting Newfoundland and Labrador include the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, Environment Canada, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Natural Resources Canada, Transport Canada, and Environment and Conservation (Newfoundland and Labrador). These agencies and departments were identified as overlapping agencies in the ‘roadmap’ documents.  As a result, the MOUs are an important step towards addressing the identified regulatory overlaps and inefficiencies.

The MOUs are in draft form and are being revised to reflect the submissions of various organizations including the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NOPB), the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NSOPB), NOIA, the Offshore/Onshore Technologies Association of Nova Scotia (OTANS) and others.  Among the planned improvements to the draft MOUs is the addition of typical timelines for both scenarios, i.e. Joint Panel Review and Comprehensive Study Review.  The acceptance and signing of the MOU is scheduled for Fall 2004.

These MOUs are not intended to address all aspects of regulatory overlap.  There is still a great deal of work yet to be done in order to continue to improve the regulatory environment in the East Coast Canada oil and gas industry.  However, the effectiveness of the MOUs cannot be fully determined until its implementation.  As a result, NOIA and other Roundtable participants look forward to the timely development of an implementation plan for the MOUs.
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