The province’s natural resources minister says discussions are ongoing with C-NLOPB to potentially include an early financial penalty for operators when it comes to oil spills in the offshore.
Lost revenues from oil spills is considered to be “deferred revenue”, but government still needs to borrow more in the current year to make up for revenues lost in the current year.
Siobhan Coady says they have had discussions around whether or not government should change the processes around oil spills, and the review to include an early fiscal penalty.
Coady says it’s something that’s under active review.
The minister says all of the oil spills from the last year are under review and being investigated. There could be penalties at the back end, but whether or not there should be an immediate fiscal requirement is under active investigation.