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Japan, South Korea lead Asian interest in oil sands Korean National Oil Co. explores investment opportunities in northern Alberta; Japan pushes ahead with commercial venture Gary Park PNA Canadian Correspondent
Alberta’s oil sands are now showing up on the radar screen of Asian countries looking for stable, secure supplies of crude, with Japan and South Korea in the forefront.
The Korean National Oil Co. has a technical team in northern Alberta on a fact-gathering mission.
That will be followed later this year by an oil sands technology and business seminar in Korea and a major visit by Korean energy companies to explore investment opportunities.
A spokesman for the Alberta Economic Development Department said KNOC has no interest in owning shares in an oil sands producer. It will only consider a working interest position.
“If KNOC finds an investment that is appropriate it will bring other companies from Korean to the table, likely in the form of a consortium,” he said.
Capital spending of $34 billion expected The oil sands region, with an estimated 300 billion barrels of recoverable reserves, is anticipating upwards of C$34 billion in capital spending over the next 15 to 20 years to raise output from 300,000 barrels per day to 1.6 million barrels per day over the next 15 years.
The spokesman said discussions with the Koreans “are the most significant step” — beyond a long-established Japanese project — by several Asian countries the Alberta government is trying to entice to the oil sands.
He did not want to identify the countries other than saying they regard the oil sands as a potential component of their strategy to diversify their sources of supply.
For the past 13 years, Japan Canada Oil Sands has laid the groundwork for its Hangingstone project in northeastern Alberta and has just filed an application with the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board to turn a 1,500 barrel-per-day experimental plant into a 10,000 barrel-per-day commercial venture by 2005 at a cost of C$150 million.
JCOS, which controls 100 percent of a 182,000-acre lease 30 miles southwest of Fort McMurray, is owned 66.9 percent by state-run Japan National Oil Corp., 6.2 percent by Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. and 26.9 percent by 70 Japanese companies.
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