In late 2001, NB Power announced its intention to refurbish Coleson Cove and convert its fuel source to orimulsion, which was sole-sourced from Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) in a $2 billion 20-year supply agreement.

The $2.2 billion refurbishment project involved reconfiguring the boilers, as well as on-land storage tanks, Lorneville Pipeline, and some equipment at Irving Oil's Canaport unloading facility.

[2] By winter 2004 it was apparent that the fuel supply agreement with PDVSA had fallen through and NB Power launched a $2.2 billion lawsuit that was filed simultaneously with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan and the Court of Queen's Bench of New Brunswick in Fredericton during the last week of February, naming both PDVSA and its United States subsidiary Bitumenes Orinoco S.A. (Bitor) as defendants and citing the companies' inability to negotiate and sign a contract to deliver orimulsion to Coleson Cove.

[3] On March 16, 2004 PDVSA announced that it was phasing out all orimulsion production; since NB Power's Dalhousie Generating Station's fuel supply agreement ends in 2010, it is assumed that both plants will be forced to switch to an alternative.

The failure to secure a fuel supply agreement with PDVSA for the Coleson Cove Generating Station overshadowed the final term of Premier Bernard Lord and is believed[by whom?]

The high price of fuel oil in recent years, coupled with the plant's still-high emissions, has meant that it has sat idle for much of the last decade as it has been cheaper for NB Power to purchase imported electricity to replace the generating capacity.