The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB) announced disappointing results this week from its call for bids on offshore oil parcels, according to a press release. Of the 17 parcels offered up in the Eastern Newfoundland Region, only one received any bids—Parcel 9—for which the winning bidder, BP Canada Energy Group ULC, committed $27 million in exploration work. For the petroleum board—and for Canada in general—that must be a crushing disappointment. In contrast, 2018 saw bids totaling $1.3 billion in the province. But it’s not just this year that was a disappointment. Last year took in just $38.6 million. “This is catastrophic. We still have some producing fields but if there is no exploration, the future is bleak,” owner of K&D Pratt—a company that provides supplies and logistics to oil and gas companies—told CBC News. Canada has been chastised by its own oil industry for creating a hostile […]