Based on an assessment of nominations, stakeholder feedback and land tenure considerations, the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB) is issuing Calls for Bids for Exploration Licences in the Labrador South and Eastern Newfoundland Regions.

Call for Bids No. NL25-CFB01 (Exploration Licences, Eastern Newfoundland Region) consists of 19 parcels and a total of 4,694,209 hectares, all of which have been previously offered. Some of these lands have reverted back to Crown reserve after licences have either expired or been relinquished.

Call for Bids No. NL25-CFB02 (Exploration Licences, Labrador South Region) consists of 17 parcels totaling 3,960,114 hectares, nine of which were available under a previous Call for Bids. The remaining eight parcels are new and located over Sector NL02-LS.

The issuance of these Calls for Bids has received ratification by the federal and Newfoundland and Labrador governments, which will also be required in the awarding of any Exploration Licences to successful bidders in early 2026.

The C-NLOPB recognizes that the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area includes important areas for fish harvesters. The C-NLOPB will continue to engage with fisheries stakeholders and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) along with other federal and provincial agencies, Indigenous groups and other interested parties throughout the land tenure process.

Safety and environmental protection are paramount in all Board decisions. The C-NLOPB supports action by the federal and provincial governments to address climate change and protect our marine environment, and works closely with governments, Indigenous groups and others in this regard. Some of the parcels in this 2025 Call for Bids overlap the Northeast Newfoundland Slope Marine Refuge. The C-NLOPB will continue to work closely with DFO and others in towards the conservation objectives of environmentally notable areas.

Planning, monitoring and assessment of offshore petroleum activities will ensure they occur in an environmentally responsible way. The timing, spatial extent and nature of proposed oil and gas activities, in addition to mitigations already prescribed by legislation or regulation, will determine the level of restriction or mitigation that may be required. Regional and/or site-specific mitigation measures to be undertaken before and during petroleum-related operations within a licence area will be conditions of C-NLOPB approvals and authorizations. Emissions-related considerations will be assessed as part of the regulatory review process when companies propose specific activity plans.

For any lands entirely or partially beyond Canada’s 200 nautical mile zone, additional terms and conditions may be applied (through legislation, regulations, amendments to licences or otherwise) to any resulting licence from a Call for Bids in order to meet obligations arising pursuant to article 82 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Interested parties will have until 12:00 p.m. Newfoundland Time on November 5, 2025, to submit sealed bids for the parcels offered in these Calls for Bids. Notification of any changes to these Calls for Bids will be posted on the C-NLOPB’s website.

The sole criterion for selecting a winning bid will be the total amount of money the bidder commits to spend on exploration of the parcel during Period I (the first six years of a nine-year licence). The minimum bid for the parcels offered is $10,000,000 in work commitments.

The C-NLOPB has decided not to proceed with a Call for Bids in the Jeanne d’Arc Region or identify a new Sector in any Low Activity Region in 2025. The decision to proceed with future Calls for Bids in the Jeanne d’Arc Region will be determined based on an assessment of nominations, stakeholder feedback and land tenure considerations on an annual basis per the C-NLOPB’s Scheduled Land Tenure System.

Further detailed information about these Calls for Bids is available here.

Any parties interested in receiving email notifications on Scheduled Land Tenure related announcements can contact Shannon Bulger at sbulger@cnlopb.ca.

Media Contact:
Lesley Rideout
Director, Government Relations and Communications
lrideout@cnlopb.ca

Stakeholder Contact:
Stephanie Johnson, P.Geo
Senior Director, Offshore Resources and Data
sjohnson@cnlopb.ca

News Releases 2025