Cenovus says oilfield extension off Newfoundland will hike emissions by 21%

Cenovus Energy logos are on display at the Global Energy Show in Calgary, Alta. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

ST. JOHN’S — The Newfoundland and Labrador government has approved hikes in greenhouse gas emissions at a nickel mine in northern Labrador and the Cenovus-owned White Rose oilfield off the coast of St. John’s.

Cenovus estimates that its new West White Rose platform will increase emissions at the oilfield by about 21 per cent at peak operation, or an amount equivalent to about 100,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide, according to documents obtained through access to information legislation by The Canadian Press.

That’s roughly the same as the emissions from more than 23,300 vehicles driven for one year, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

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The West White Rose project was roundly applauded for bringing hundreds of construction jobs to rural Newfoundland and for extending the life of the White Rose oilfield by about 14 years. A massive component was built in Argentia, N.L., and towed out to the oilfield last year.

Its effect on greenhouse gas emissions has not been as widely discussed.

Climate scientist Marilena Geng said she wished these projects’ greenhouse gas emissions were talked about more often. However, she wondered how effective more awareness would be as other issues — affordability, an unstable geopolitical landscape — seem to have eclipsed concerns about the climate crisis.

“Things are just going down in terms of our interest in climate change and cutting emissions,” said Geng, who is part of an energy transition research group at Memorial University in St. John’s, N.L. “But we can’t bench climate change. It’s going to catch up, and it’s going to really hurt.”

Climate change is fuelling extreme weather across Canada, including in Newfoundland and Labrador, where wildfires destroyed more than 200 structures last year and Hurricane Fiona ravaged the southwestern tip of the island in 2022 as a post-tropical storm. The Insurance Bureau of Canada estimates insured losses due to catastrophic weather events and wildfires totalled $37 billion between 2016 to 2025, nearly tripling losses from the previous decade.

Cenovus and mining company Vale Base Metals, which operates the Voisey’s Bay mine in Labrador, wrote to the provincial government last year to ask for an increase in their operations’ baseline emissions levels. The province uses the baseline levels to set emission reduction targets, which can come with financial penalties if missed.

This year, according to legislation, a facility’s emissions must be 20 per cent below the baseline level. Credits to offset missed reduction targets will cost $110 per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to carbon dioxide, the rules say.

Emissions at Voisey’s Bay mine more than doubled from 2016 to 2024, reaching more than 180,000 metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent, according to government data. In its note to the province, Vale said the increase was due to a switch from open pit to underground mining.

In January, the province’s new Progressive Conservative government approved Vale’s and Cenovus’ requests via two orders-in-council. Provincial legislation allows the government to amend a facility’s baseline emission rate if it has changed its operations or technology.

Vale’s new underground mine at Voisey’s Bay will undergo a three-year baseline-setting program, “after which they will have annually increasing greenhouse gas emission reduction targets at the rate set in legislation,” said Sherri Breen, a spokesperson for the provincial Department of Environment, Conservation and Climate Change.

The West White Rose expansion will also be factored into Cenovus’ annual reduction targets, Breen said in an email.

Cenovus said the bump in emissions from the West White Rose platform will largely come from generating electricity. The platform is powered primarily by natural gas, with diesel on backup, a spokesperson said.

“The new West White Rose platform will steward to environmental measures set by the province,” said spokesperson Colleen McConnell in an email.

The current baseline emissions rate for the White Rose oilfield is 389,034 metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent, the company’s request to the province said. A new baseline of 489,034 metric tonnes is equivalent to greenhouse gas emissions from more than 114,000 vehicles driven for one year, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

However, it’s a fraction of the 3.8 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent that spewed from Cenovus’ oilsands operation at Christina Lake in Alberta in 2024, according to federal data.

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Vale powers much of its operations at the Voisey’s Bay mine by burning diesel, according to plans it submitted to the province for a wind farm to offset fossil fuel burning at the site. The plans were approved in 2022, though the company did not directly respond to a question asking whether construction on the wind farm had begun.

“While the remote location of Voisey’s Bay is far from the provincial power grid posing logistical and economic challenges to the use of renewable energy, we remain committed to reducing emissions at the operation and continue to explore available options,” spokesperson Vincent Tulk said in an email.

“Our ambition is to achieve net zero … emissions by 2050.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 27, 2026.

Sarah Smellie, The Canadian Press