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Taiwan enters Saskatchewan oil sands
CPC Corp., Taiwan’s state-owned petroleum refiner and gasoline retailer, has signed a preliminary accord to invest C$788 million over the next five years to acquire and explore oil sands leases in Saskatchewan.
The pact is expected to see CPC participating in a joint venture with Saskatchewan-based Indian Oilsands Corp. to mine for bitumen, CPC said on its Web site.
Although Saskatchewan does not yet have any commercial production from the oil sands, Calgary-based Oilsands Quest is within weeks of starting a pilot project at its Axe Lake discovery, where resources are estimated at 6 billion barrels. It is targeting initial output of 30,000 barrels per day, building to 100,000 bpd, using steam injection methods to extract bitumen.
Ten First Nations could participate in acquiring land The Indian Oilsands initiative could see participation by 10 Saskatchewan First Nations in acquiring 250,000 acres of land through a federal land entitlement program.
Indian Oilsands plans to be an active bidder at upcoming government land sales in hopes of pooling leases with the CPC partnership, setting the stage for a development strategy that would include production, upgrading and refining.
CPC is seeking partners around the world to diversify its energy supplies, but Oilsands Quest said it is more interested in linking up with a global super major that can provide engineering and management, adding it has had no dealings with CPC.
—Gary Park
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