ST. JOHN'S — Equinor says it has signed an agreement for Shell to buy a 30 per cent stake in the proposed Bay du Nord oil project off the east coast of Newfoundland.
Equinor will keep a 70 per cent share and remain the operator of the development, the company said in a news release Friday.
The Norwegian energy giant is expected to decide early next year whether it will proceed with the $14-billion project, which would be the first deepwater oil development in Canada.
“Shell’s entry strengthens the project as we continue to mature it towards a final investment decision,” Philippe Mathieu, Equinor’s executive vice president for international exploration and production, said in the release.
The news comes about three months after British oil giant BP announced it had signed a deal to sell its 37.2 per cent interest in Bay du Nord. BP later said the sale was part of a larger strategy to simplify its global portfolio.
Shell issued its own release Friday, saying Bay du Nord offered an established resource base and potential for longer-term growth.
If the project goes ahead, Bay du Nord would be located in an area called the Flemish Pass Basin, about 500 kilometres off the east coast of St. John’s. It would be farther away from shore than any other offshore oil project on the globe.
Equinor expects to extract an estimated 400 million barrels of oil during the first phase of the development.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 9, 2026.
