More offshore R&D cash

The Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear an appeal by oil companies into a court decision on research and development rules set by the offshore regulatory board.

That means more money for research will flow in Newfoundland and Labrador from Hibernia and Terra Nova.  White Rose already operates under the new rules that fix a percentage of revenues to be spent on research and development.

The decision will also affect the Hebron field when and if it is developed.

Under the provincial government's agreement with the Hebron partners, $120 million is earmarked for R&D activities.

Despite that spending commitment, Ruelokke says the R&D rules will still apply to the project.

"It'll be bound by whatever our guidelines require."

If the R&D formula works out to be more than the Hebron agreement target, more research and development spending will be required.

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AG quietly starts offshore board audit

Officials of the province’s auditor general have started their audit of the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board, the spokesperson for the board confirmed for Bond Papers.

The audit began earlier this month.

The board is the joint federal provincial body that regulates the province’s offshore oil and gas industry.  Last year, the board issued invitations to both the federal and provincial auditors general to conduct audits;  only the provincial auditor accepted.

In the letter, chairman and chief executive officer Max Ruelokke notes that the board is concerned about "recent comments in the media concerning its finances which may be construed to imply some impropriety in the Board's finances."

That would be comments by Noseworthy, who is no stranger to making unsubstantiated accusations.

Auditor general John Noseworthy decided last year to audit the board, despite the fact that his office had never listed the board as an entity subject to audit.  Noseworthy claimed to have legal advice supporting his new position.  The legal opinion has never been made public.

The board refused the request indicating that  - as a joint federal-provincial body – the board should be audit by both federal and provincial auditors.

This did not satisfy Noseworthy who issued a special report accusing the board of breaking the province’s Auditor General Act.

Noseworthy made reference to the special report in his annual report for the year ending March 31, 2008.  However, Noseworthy neglected to note in the report that the dispute had been resolved and his office was now conducting the audit.

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Related:

“No access restriction: offshore board”

“NL AG hoist by own petard of misleading statements”

Nice work if you can get it, patronage appointments version

Voice of the cabinet minister puts a happy government- face on the news that the provincial government just appointed Ed Drover to the offshore regulatory board on a “part-time” basis.  That’s a wee bit odd since the board isn’t a full-time job anyway.

Well, it’s also a bit odd that a radio station that started out claiming to be the Voice of the Common Man has flipped 180 degrees, but that’s another issue.

CBC’s Here and Now reminded everyone in the province tonight of two things.

First, the guy who got the plum is a well-known Provincial Conservative fundraiser.

Second, they reminded us – as CBC reported last April  - that the guy and the company he worked for are being sued by a former employee of the life insurance company who claims “she was verbally abused, harassed and bullied while on the job.”

No less a personage than Olympic gold medalist and Danny icon Brad Gushue had a few observations about the guy as well:

Gushue was employed as an adviser selling London Life products for nine months beginning in 2001. When he quit in June 2002, Gushue wrote to company vice-president Jim O'Neill, saying the office was led through "intimidation and fear."

Gushue alleged Drover addressed him in a "very unprofessional and inappropriate manner" in a meeting, and also said that when he quit, Drover called him "a failure."

So what is it about this cabinet and appointments to the offshore regulatory board?  Andy Wells and now this guy, neither of whom have any obvious background or experience in anything related to the offshore industry.

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