Oil spill costing $4M per day in deferred revenue

Since offshore vessels were ordered to suspend production in the face of fierce weather last week, the cost to the province stands at an estimated $24 million, CBCNews confirmed Wednesday.

Finance minister Tom Osborne said in a statement that the shutdowns of all offshore rigs, with the except of the Hebron platform, is leading to the "deferral" of between $3.5 and $4 million in royalties per day.

"It is important to note that this isdeferredrevenue, notlost revenue as this oil will still be produced at a later date once operations resume," he said in an email.

Osborne stressed that the number "is only an estimate, and there are numerous factors that could change it," he wrote, pointing out that as individual platforms come back to life, the amount of deferred royalties per day will decrease.

"If operators have sufficient inventories already in place to meet their sales commitments, we may not experience this amount of deferred revenues until some future date," he added.

Osborne said the full impact on revenue will be better assessed when the nextbudget is drafted.

No timeline yet

Premier Dwight Ball addressed the shutdown in question period Wednesday, saying he could not pin down a timeline for vessels to resume production.

"There's a series of checks that would have to be done as a requirement [for each vessel] togo back into operation," Ball said.

"It's hard to predict what the timeline would be ... but it would make sure that all the checks and balances are done so that when they go back to work they can do it safely."

Three lifeboats were found to bedamaged on the Hibernia platform, he confirmed, and said repairs are ongoing. "We're not going to rush this process," he said.

After an oil spill from theSeaRoseFPSOFriday, the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board ordered all vessels to obtain authorization from the regulator before resuming production.

Effects of spill still rippling

The C-NLOPBhasbegun an investigation and ismeeting with Husky tomorrow to review all response measures since the spill, the regulator said in a release.

Six days on, officials say the 250,000 litres of crude hasn't been spotted in the past four observation flights.The petroleum board said in a statement that an observation flight this morning could not detect anysheensdue to low visibility.

It was the ninth such flight since Friday's spill.Environment and Climate Change Canada said thespill "appears to have dissipated."

An environmentministry spokesperson also confirmed that Husky Energy, operator of theSeaRose,would be responsible for all costs related to cleanup of any further sheensthat are located.

Trevor Pritchard, Husky's senior vice president for the Atlantic region, said on Tuesday a failed flowlinevalve was responsible for the spill, but the company is still looking into what caused the failure.

"We're going to have to investigate as to why, at such a low pressure, this particular device, the flowline connector to the manifold, came apart as it did," Pritchard said.

Read more articles from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador