Oilsands

[soldier]

International
United States And China Covet Oil Sands
Oxford Analytica, 09.12.05, 6:00 AM ET








Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived last week in Ottawa for a four-day visit to Canada. Hu's visit came on the heels of U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow's survey of Alberta's oil-producing regions. Those visits by representatives of the world's two largest energy consumers highlighted Canada's emerging position as a key "low risk" oil and gas supplier.

Since Canada's oil sands reserves were officially recognized in 2003, international interest in these assets has gathered momentum. Estimated at 180 million barrels, Canadian oil resources are second only to Saudi Arabia. Development that was begun timidly decades ago by Great Canadian Oil Sands (now Suncor Energy (nyse: SU - news - people )) today includes dozens of players.

This enormous resource is located on the North American continent, in a politically stable country and reaches the market via a fully integrated infrastructure of pipelines and refineries. From a risk management perspective, these elements make including Canadian oil sands assets in a company's global portfolio very attractive. However, the number of players involved hides the fact that production from oil sands tends to be concentrated.

:hst:

[Ottawaman]

Saskatchewan also has a huge oil supply waiting to be developed

[Shaman]

Yup I don't see oil leaving the market for sometime,

Shame everytime i think of our future I am reminded of Sonic 2 Level, OIL OCEAN with that middle eastern type tune.

And the tcm members turn to me and say, how do you come up with this ****


hey on the plus side maybe we can get some American investors to strike a deal with the Oil up in Canada and in turn we get

-THE WINNIPEG JETS BACK, Paul Martin and Gary Bettman can smooth things over with the public

Now that's true political thinking, screw the public over but give them something else totally non-important but shows our 'Canadian Pride'

[Frogy]

Yup I don't see oil leaving the market for sometime,

Shame everytime i think of our future I am reminded of Sonic 2 Level, OIL OCEAN with that middle eastern type tune.

And the tcm members turn to me and say, how do you come up with this ****


hey on the plus side maybe we can get some American investors to strike a deal with the Oil up in Canada and in turn we get

-THE WINNIPEG JETS BACK, Paul Martin and Gary Bettman can smooth things over with the public


lol, that obviously isn't enough :)

[Shaman]

Alright, maybe just maybe get the Nordiques back too, but itll be hard to teach the American's French.

[Frogy]

lol :cool: but I still want more

[Frogy]

International
United States And China Covet Oil Sands
Oxford Analytica, 09.12.05, 6:00 AM ET








Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived last week in Ottawa for a four-day visit to Canada. Hu's visit came on the heels of U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow's survey of Alberta's oil-producing regions. Those visits by representatives of the world's two largest energy consumers highlighted Canada's emerging position as a key "low risk" oil and gas supplier.

Since Canada's oil sands reserves were officially recognized in 2003, international interest in these assets has gathered momentum. Estimated at 180 million barrels, Canadian oil resources are second only to Saudi Arabia. Development that was begun timidly decades ago by Great Canadian Oil Sands (now Suncor Energy (nyse: SU - news - people )) today includes dozens of players.

This enormous resource is located on the North American continent, in a politically stable country and reaches the market via a fully integrated infrastructure of pipelines and refineries. From a risk management perspective, these elements make including Canadian oil sands assets in a company's global portfolio very attractive. However, the number of players involved hides the fact that production from oil sands tends to be concentrated.

:hst:

There's no question about it soldier, we have the resources.

[Shaman]

So the American/Canadian treaty of Peace will continue until we are hiding a 'weapon of mass destruction' or some advanced hydrogen/bio-weapon and President Bush Jr.Jr. (No typo) declares Canada a hostile enemy. Just to reap oil and water & trees.

Funny thing though it'll never come down to this because the Canadian business men and politicians will continue to draw up silly contracts that have our resources 1st priority to USA 2nd to Canada even though we own them.

---Recalls from memory the POWER OUTAGE------ At what point should Canada ever run out of power, I think never, but thats not how our resources are allocated.

If only Canada had a little more 'Alberta' in us. We could stiff the USA like Alberta is reaping benifits from the oil and not sharing profits with Canada. Least I think that's whats happening.

[soldier]

06:41 PM EDT Oct 14
JAMES STEVENSON



CALGARY (CP) - Pipeline giant Enbridge Inc. has chosen Kitimat in northern British Columbia, to locate the deep-water port for its planned $4-billion Gateway pipeline project, where Canadian oilsands crude will be loaded onto massive tankers bound for Asia and California.

Gateway will stretch 1,200 kilometres across the Rockies from the Edmonton area to the industrial town at the north end of the Douglas Channel, which runs inland about 120 kilometres from the Pacific Ocean.

Over the past year, Enbridge (TSX:ENB) has been trying to choose between Kitimat or Prince Rupert to the northwest, as the best site for its new port.

But although Kitimat will be a farther distance for the tankers, a Prince Rupert port would have cost the company at least an extra $500 million, said Art Meyer, president of Gateway Pipeline Inc., the Enbridge subsidiary formed to construct the pipeline.

"The primary factor was economic and a business case that determined Kitimat was the most appropriate choice," said Meyer.

The Gateway project is actually two pipelines lying beside each other. One is the crude line expected to carry 400,000 barrels of oil westward per day from the oilsands.

A smaller, condensate line would ship key chemical ingredients - often called diluent - eastward to the oilsands where it is needed to mix with the heavy bitumen to enable it to flow through a pipeline.

Enbridge announced last month that initial demand for the condensate line was strong enough to warrant building a bigger line.

Later this month, the company will commence its open-season for the crude line, asking shippers and refiners for initial commitments which will then be finalized into firm deals.

Last April, Enbridge announced a preliminary deal with state-owned PetroChina to earmark 200,000 barrels per day or half of Gateway's daily shipping capacity.

The company has said it expects the PetroChina deal to anchor the new line, with numerous smaller deals joining in to fill the pipeline's capacity.

The project is expected to generate thousands of direct jobs during construction and up to 75 permanent jobs for the operation of the pipeline, marine terminal and related facilities, Enbridge said Friday.

Kitimat, a town of 34,000 and British Columbia's third-largest port, is home to the operations of a number of other major companies including aluminum producer Alcan (TSX:AL), methanol producer Methanex (TSX:MX) and forestry products firm West Fraser Timber (TSX:WFT).

In September, oil and gas producer EnCana Corp. (TSX:ECA) announced that it will use the Methanex terminal in Kitimat to import up to 25,000 barrels per day of offshore diluent to use in its growing oilsands production.

"The Gateway project is good news for Kitimat and will provide many opportunities for our community in the future," said District of Kitimat Mayor Richard Wozney.

"We have worked hard over the last number of months to attract Enbridge as a corporate citizen and look forward to working with them." Enbridge said it has met with communities and First Nations, interest groups and governments to discuss the project and will continue to maintain "open and transparent consultation."

Enbridge expects to file its regulatory application by the middle of next year, with public hearings ongoing in 2007 and approvals in time to begin construction the following year. If all goes according to plan, the pipeline would be operational by 2010.

With oilsands production expected to almost triple in the next decade from the current one million barrels per day, Enbridge is just one of several pipeline companies planning new takeaway pipelines heading both east and west from Alberta.

Privately owned Altex Energy Ltd. added its name to that list Friday, announcing plans to build and operate a new oil pipeline to ship oilsands crude to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Shares in Enbridge (TSX:ENB) gained 10 cents to close $34.86 in trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Friday.



© The Canadian Press, 2005

[soldier]

Story
Terasen shareholders overwhelmingly approve $6.9B takeover by Kinder Morgan

Craig Wong
Canadian Press


October 19, 2005


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VANCOUVER (CP) - Shareholders of Terasen Inc. on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the company's $6.9-billion takeover by U.S. pipeline giant Kinder Morgan.

More than 95 per cent of them voted for the deal, announced in August.

"We believe that this is an excellent transaction not only for shareholders but an excellent transaction in the long run for Canada," John Reid, Terasen's president, told the shareholders.

Reid said the deal will give the company the size to take on new and larger projects to meet the growing demands in the Alberta oilsands.

"We've not got an asset base that is somewhere in the area of $5 billion, but we're looking at projects that are up to $2 billion to $3 billion," he said.

Under the deal, Houston-based Kinder Morgan will pay $6.9 billion in cash, stock and assumed debt of Terasen, which has several key crude pipelines running out of Alberta, a gas distribution network and a waterworks division.

However, the deal was not without its critics. Many shareholders spoke passionately against the deal that will see Houston-based Kinder Morgan buy a successful Canadian firm.

"It's my belief that the sale of Terasen to Kinder Morgan is not in the best long-term interests of Canadians or future generations," one shareholder told the meeting.

"This is a utility we are selling not a doughnut shop. We can choose not to eat doughnuts, but we can't make a choice about our utility."

[soldier]

Western Oil Sands Q3 Profit Rises on Increased Revenue

By Bill Graveland
27 Oct 2005 at 08:19 AM EDT


CALGARY (CP) -- Western Oil Sands Inc. says its third-quarter profit rose to C$79.4 million from a year-earlier C$42.4 million on improved results from its stake in a major oilsands operation in northern Alberta.

The Calgary company reported Wednesday its earnings for the quarter ended Sept. 30 amounted to C50 cents a share, compared with C27 cents per share a year ago.




Revenue at the Alberta oilsands company [TSX:WTO] rose to C$185.7 million from C$104.1 million.

''The third quarter performance is in line with our expectations,'' said David Dyck, Chief Financial Officer for Western Oil Sands.

''If we exclude the impact of Western's hedging activities in the quarter cash flow from operations was C$123 million and net earnings were C$106 million,'' he said.

The company's bottom line was helped by a 44% increase in crude oil prices, higher production and 13,000 fewer barrels a day that were subject to fixed price hedge contracts.

''The primary focus of our management team is to deliver the (Alberta Oil Sands Project) value proposition by optimizing existing operations in order to safely produce consistent results,'' said CEO Jim Houck.

''At the same time, the goal is to deliver on the project's expansion phases in the most cost effective manner possible.''

Earlier this month, Western Oil Sands hedged its prices for about one-fifth of its anticipated production from the Athabasca oilsands project between 2007 and 2009 to back its share of spending on a planned expansion at the oil operation.

The company said it has entered into put options setting a minimum weighted average price of $52.42 per barrel for 20,000 barrels per day of synthetic crude oil production to provide greater cash flow certainty to fund Western's share of the anticipated 2007 to 2009 capital expenditures.

The future-pricing program sets average per barrel prices at $52.50 for 2007, $54.25 for 2008 and $50.50 for 2009.

''This represents about two-thirds of our production in 2007 and by 2009 it will be less than half of our estimated production,'' Dyck said.

In its financial report, Western said earnings included C$31.9 million of unrealized foreign exchange and risk-management gains.

Calgary-based Western owns a 20% interest in the Alberta Oil Sands Project, jointly held with 60% owner Shell Canada Ltd. [TSX:SHC] and Chevron Canada Ltd., which also holds a 20% stake.

The three companies expect to decide on project spending for the first expansion phase in mid-2006. Construction is expected to begin in 2006 and be completed in 2009.

Western also has the option of joining Shell in developing four additional leases in the Athabasca region.

''Western has the oppportunity to participate in these leases at the appropriate time,'' said Houck.

''As part of good strategic planning we want to make informed decisions and we believe evaluating opportunities such as these and others is prudent and necessary on our part,'' he said.

The third-quarter results were not unexpected said a Calgary energy analyst.

''Western's numbers are fairly transparent based on the Shell reporting, the major difference being their hedging program,'' said Wilf Gobert from Peters and Co.

''They've unfortunately lost a bundle on hedging,'' he said.

In trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Western shares fell C63 cents to close at C$25.37, a drop of 2.42%.

© The Canadian Press 2005