By Ethan Lou
TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada may ask oil companies to contribute to the hundreds of millions of dollars or more the country has to pay to an international body if they drill far offshore, according to an internal government memo.
If that happens, it could make the operations more expensive and strain talks that companies will have with provincial governments, which already require them to pay royalties.
A United Nations convention, which Canada ratified in 2003, says signatories need to pay the International Seabed Authority (ISA) if companies drill on the “extended continental shelf,” the seabed part of a country’s landmass, but more than 200 nautical miles (230 miles) offshore.
It was never clear from where that money should come. The ISA said only that Canada, where Norway’s Statoil ASA STL.OL has done such far-offshore explorations, is close to a position that warrants payments under the United Nations Convention on …
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