FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 3, 2012 (6:00 a.m. EST)
Athabasca Exercises its Option to Sell its Interest in the MacKay River Oil Sands ProjectCALGARY - Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. (TSX: ATH) announces that it has exercised its option to divest its
40% interest in the MacKay River oil sands project to Cretaceous Oilsands Holdings Limited, a wholly
owned subsidiary of PetroChina International Investment Limited, for cash consideration of $680 million (Cdn.), subject to closing adjustments including Athabasca's repayment of two loans provided by Cretaceous.
The February 10, 2010 Put/Call Option Agreement between Cretaceous and Athabasca granted this option to trigger the sale of Athabasca's 40% interest in the MacKay River project. As a result of the sale of its MacKay River interest, Athabasca's 2012 capital budget will be reduced by approximately $190 million.
The Board of Directors of Athabasca decided to proceed with this divestiture because it believes the long-term prospects of the company are enhanced by deploying its capital and resources into its other development projects.
Sveinung Svarte, president and CEO says, "Since creating the joint venture with Cretaceous in February,
2010 and until our exercise of the put option, Athabasca has grown and diversified. We added approximately three billion barrels of contingent resource (best estimate) through successful drilling and acquisitions, reaching approximately 10 billion barrels of contingent resources (best estimate)."
Svarte adds, "We grew the resource base of the Hangingstone asset area, which the company estimates now has the potential to produce more than 80,000 barrels of bitumen per day. As a result, we accelerated the timing of development for this project and first production is expected in 2014.
"We have also acquired more than 1.7 million acres of promising light oil and liquids-rich natural gas properties. The company is very pleased with the results of our 2011 light oil drilling and completions program and we are targeting a production rate of 8,000 - 10,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by the end of 2012," Svarte states.
Bill Gallacher, chair of the Board says, "Our strategy is to ultimately achieve approximately 50% of our production from the company's oil sands division and the balance from the light oil division. We will use the proceeds from the option exercise to implement this strategy."
Athabasca is a dynamic, Canadian company focused on development of oil resource plays in Alberta, Canada. It has accumulated a large, high quality resource base suitable for extraction of extra heavy crude oil (bitumen) and light oil. The company is well financed and with its excellent assets and talented
people, Athabasca is poised to become a major Canadian oil producer. It is traded on the TSX under the symbol ATH.
For more information, please contact:
# # #
Media & Financial CommunityHeather Douglas
Vice President, Communications & External Affairs
(403) 532-7408 hdouglas@aosc.com
Reader Advisory
This news release contains certain forward-looking
information and statements within the meaning of applicable
securities laws. The use of any of the words
"expect", "anticipate",
"continue", "estimate", "may",
"will", "project", "should",
"believe", "plans", "intends"
and similar expressions are intended to identify
forward-looking information or statements. In particular, but
without limiting the forgoing, this news release contains
statements concerning the closing of the divestiture, the
potential use of the net proceeds from the divestiture to
other development projects, the company's anticipated
capital budget for 2012, the potential production
capabilities of the company's Hangingstone properties,
anticipated timelines for production from the company's
Hangingstone properties, anticipated exit fiscal 2012
production rates and the company's estimations with
regards to its future production profile between conventional
oil and gas and oil sands production. The forward-looking
information is based on certain key expectations and
assumptions made by the company's management, including
expectations and assumptions concerning the current terms of
prevailing commodity prices, exchange rates, interest rates,
applicable royalty rates and tax laws; future production
rates and estimates of operating costs; performance of
existing and future wells; reserve and resource volumes;
anticipated timing and results of capital expenditures; the
success obtained in drilling new wells; the sufficiency of
budgeted capital expenditures in carrying out planned
activities; the timing, location and extent of future
drilling operations; the state of the economy and the
exploration and production business; results of operations;
performance; business prospects and opportunities; the
availability and cost of financing, labor and services; the
impact of increasing competition; ability to market oil and
natural gas successfully, the company's ability to
access capital, obtaining the necessary regulatory approval
and satisfaction of the other conditions to closing the put
transaction. In addition, information and statements relating
to "reserves" and "resources" are deemed
to be forward-looking information and statements, as they
involve the implied assessment, based on certain estimates
and assumptions, that the reserves and resources described
exist in the quantities predicted or estimated, and that the
reserves and resources described can be profitably produced
in the future.
Although the company believes that the expectations and
assumptions on which such forward-looking information is
based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on
the forward-looking information because the company can give
no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since
forward-looking information addresses future events and
conditions, by its very nature they involve inherent risks
and uncertainties. The put transaction may not be completed
on the anticipated time frames or at all or may be
renegotiated and the company's actual results, including
production results, performance or achievement could differ
materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the
forward-looking information and, accordingly, no assurance
can be given that any of the events anticipated by the
forward-looking information will transpire or occur, or if
any of them do so, what benefits that the company will derive
there from. Management has included the above summary of
assumptions and risks related to forward-looking information
provided in this news release in order to provide readers
with a more complete perspective on the company's future
operations and such information may not be appropriate for
other purposes.
Readers are cautioned that the foregoing lists of factors are
not exhaustive. The assumptions relating to AOSC's reserves
and resources are contained in the reports of GLJ Petroleum
Consultants Ltd. dated effective April 30, 2011 and DeGolyer
and MacNaughton Canada Limited dated effective April 30,
2011. The risks and uncertainties referred to above are
described in more detail in AOSC's Annual Information Form
dated March 28, 2011, which is available on the SEDAR website
at www.sedar.com. See also AOSC's financial statements and
Management's Discussion and Analysis for the year ended
December 31, 2010 and for the current interim financial
period, which are also available on SEDAR. These
forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this
press release and AOSC disclaims any intent or obligation to
update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a
result of new information, future events or results or
otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities
laws.
"Contingent Resources" are defined in the Canadian
Oil and Gas Evaluation Handbook (the "COGE
Handbook") as those quantities of petroleum estimated,
as of a given date, to be potentially recoverable from known
accumulations using established technology or technology
under development, but which are not currently considered to
be commercially recoverable due to one or more contingencies.
Contingencies may include factors such as economic, legal,
environmental, political and regulatory matters or a lack of
markets. It is also appropriate to classify as
"Contingent Resources" the estimated discovered
recoverable quantities associated with a project in the early
evaluation stage. Contingent Resources are further classified
in accordance with the level of certainty associated with the
estimates and may be sub classified based on project maturity
and/or characterized by their economic status. The volumes of
contingent bitumen resources in the above table were
calculated at the outlet of the proposed extraction plant and
are the Company's working interest (operating or
non-operating) share before deduction of royalty obligations.
There is no certainty that it will be commercially viable to
produce any portion of the resources.
Barrel of oil equivalents or BOEs may be misleading,
particularly if used in isolation. A BOE conversion ratio of
6 mcf: 1 bbl is based on an energy equivalency conversion
method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not
represent a value equivalency at the wellhead.
distribué par | Ce noodl a été diffusé par Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. et initialement mise en ligne sur le site http://www.aosc.com. La version originale est disponible ici. Ce noodl a été distribué par noodls dans son format d'origine et sans modification sur 2012-01-03 14:07:03 PM et restera accessible depuis ce lien permanent. Cette annonce est protégée par les règles du droit d'auteur et toute autre loi applicable, et son propriétaire est seul responsable de sa véracité et de son originalité. |
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