The former minister of natural resources took off after Equinor this morning, questioning the timing of their announcement that Bay du Nord was being delayed.

MP Seamus O’Regan gave one of the most upbeat speeches Wednesday morning of the Energy NL conference.

An hour later, the lead on the $16 billion oil project delivered the harsh news, taking the air right out of the conference.

He says he doesn’t know what Equinor was thinking, and that “the timing was nothing short of sadistic”, coming just as delegates were celebrating good things happening in the energy sector.

Further, O’Regan says relations between his government and the company is strained.

Premier Andrew Furey is not happy either. Furey says if you listened to his comments over the past couple of days, that’s why he stressed that it’s “our” resource.