STP

Chineese hungry for energy. Petro China is as we all know neigbouring STP after their aquisition of Athabasca Oil one year ago.

PetroChina Co., the country’s biggest energy producer, agreed to buy a 50 percent stake in Encana Corp.’s Cutbank Ridge gas assets in Canada for C$5.4 billion ($5.4 billion) in its largest overseas acquisition.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-09/encana-sells-5-44-billion-cutbank-stake-to-petrochina-under-joint-venture.html

The deal gives PetroChina 60 percent control of Athabasca Oil Sands Corp.'s Mac Kay and Dover oil sands deposits in Alberta. The yield from the two deposits is likely to be modest when compared with total estimates of about 175 billion barrels of oil held in the sands, the largest after Saudi Arabia.

Industry analysts said China would likely seek to expand its Canadian tar sands portfolio.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2010/01/05/China-buys-into-Canadian-tar-sands-exploitation-project/UPI-22041262732184/#ixzz1DYFkW8BQ

PetroChina International Investment Company Ltd. (PTR-N109.75-3.44-3.04%) will buy a 60 per cent stake in privately-owned oil sands firm Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. in a deal that oil patch insiders see as a key vote of confidence in Alberta's massive bitumen reserves.

The $1.9-billion deal will give PetroChina a large stake in a company whose assets contain about five-billion barrels of bitumen.

“Oil sands projects are very capital-intensive long-term investments and difficult to fully finance in the traditional equity market,” Athabasca chairman Bill Gallacher said in a release. Athabasca “therefore decided to look for joint venture partners, and these strategic joint venture arrangements with PetroChina, one of the world's largest energy companies, can ensure that the MacKay River and Dover projects will be developed in timely manner, which is excellent news for Alberta and the rest of Canada.”

Rumours of the impending deal pushed up shares in several small junior oil sands companies, including UTS Energy Corp. (UTS-T1.790.1710.49%) and Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd. (CLL-T1.00----%) , on a belief that major outside investment interests are once again prepared to invest in the oil sands.

“It's great news for the oil sands business. It shows that there are still large, sophisticated, deep-pocketed companies out there prepared to write big cheques,” said one Calgary banker.

Athabasca made an application last year to build two pilot oil sands projects that will use technology known as “steam-assisted gravity drainage” to exploit the crude on its lands. Unlike oil sands mines, SAGD operators use underground injections of high-pressure steam to coax the thick bitumen to the surface.

The company plans to apply for its first commercial project, a 150,000 barrel-per-day development in MacKay River, near the end of this year. It expects to begin production of a first, 35,000 barrel-per-day, phase in 2014.

The company estimates that it can turn a profit on its projects with crude prices at $50 to $60 (U.S.). Corporate documents point to potential future production from the company's lands of 500,000 barrels per day.

The company raised $400-million in secured debt last July, through a financing led by GMP Securities L.P. and Lehman Brothers Canada Inc.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/petrochina-buys-60-stake-in-oil-sands-project/article1270720/