(January 6, 2022) – Lloyd Parrott, PC Official Opposition Shadow Minister for Industry, Energy, and Innovation and MHA for Terra Nova, says he’s concerned about the future of the offshore, and more specifically the seismic program in this province.

“The Minister has confirmed that the Liberal Government will once again show there lack of support for our offshore oil and gas industry by failing to nurture the industry’s future and eliminating funding for the seismic program,” said Parrott.

Parrott is calling on Minister Parsons to reverse his decision and make sure that the province continues to invest in the seismic program and to make a public commitment that an investment will be included in Budget 2022.

“While the Minister calls it a ‘pause’ in funding, I am concerned that this Liberal decision will be permanent and will shut the door on future oil and gas exploration in this province. Cancelling the seismic program is the wrong decision,” said Parrott.

“I am calling upon Minister Parsons to ensure that money for seismic data collection, research, and the interpretation of results is included in Budget 2022 and I am asking him to immediately make this commitment public.”

Parrot continued to outline the importance of the seismic program to the future of our oil and gas program and its importance to the future of natural gas development in our province.

“If the province is to pave a way for a green future we need the economic benefit of developing all of our resources. The best way to do so is by making seismic data available to oil and gas companies, it encourages them to invest in our industry and gives them important insight about our geology, oil and gas potential, and helps plan exploration projects in our province. Seismic data is important in order to develop our future natural gas industry as well,” said Parrott.

“Our industry must remain globally competitive, investing in seismic data collection helps us to do just that. I have serious concerns about what kind of message this gives potential investors.”

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Contacts:

David Maher

Director of Strategic Communications

(cell) 709-725-0984

DavidMaher@gov.nl.ca