• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Chevron Announces Major Oil Sands Leases Acquired in Canada

Posted on: Thursday, 2 March 2006, 12:00 CST

SAN RAMON, Calif., March 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Chevron Corporation today announced that it has acquired five heavy oil leases in the Athabasca region of northern Alberta. The leases comprise more than 180,000 acres and possess an estimated 7.5 billion barrels of oil in place.

"Chevron is one of the world's leading companies in developing heavy oil, and this opportunity expands our efforts to develop high-quality, large-scale resources to enhance our production growth profile," said George Kirkland, Chevron Corporation's executive vice president, Upstream and Gas. "Our goal is to lead the industry in the selection and execution of major capital projects, and we are excited by the opportunity to build on our position in the Canadian oil sands."

Added Alex Archila, president, Chevron Canada Limited: "This acquisition places Chevron in an excellent position to pursue in situ oil sands development. It offers to opportunity to build upon our existing thermal and oil sands knowledge and capabilities."

Chevron already is active in the Canadian oil sands. The company is a 20 percent joint venture participant in the Athabasca Oil Sands Project (AOSP), which includes the Muskeg River Mine and the Scotford Upgrader. AOSP produces approximately 155,000 barrels per day. Since opening in 2003, AOSP has produced more than 100 million barrels of bitumen.

The new leases are approximately 76 miles west of Fort Mackay in northern Alberta, and 24 miles south west of AOSP. The resource has the potential for recovery using Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD), a proven in situ technology that uses steam and horizontal drilling to extract the bitumen. Two other companies will each have the right to elect to acquire a 20 percent working interest in these leases.

Chevron Canada Limited is a Calgary-based subsidiary of Chevron Corporation. It has been active in Canada since 1938 and produces more than 80,000 barrels of oil and equivalent gas per day. With more than 53,000 employees, San Ramon-based Chevron Corporation has subsidiaries conducting business in approximately 180 countries around the world, producing and transporting crude oil and natural gas, and refining, marketing, and distributing fuels and other energy products. More information on Chevron Corporation is available at http://www.chevron.com/.

Cautionary Statement Relevant to Forward-Looking Information for the Purpose of "Safe Harbor" Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Some of the items discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements about the development of oil sands in Alberta, Canada. Words such as "estimated,""planned" and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. The statements are based upon management's current expectations, estimates, and projections; are not guarantees of future performance; and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond the company's control and are difficult to predict. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are changes in the demand for and supply of crude oil and natural gas; actions of competitors; the potential disruption or interruption of project activities due to war, accidents, political events, civil unrest or severe weather; and general economic and political conditions. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Unless legally required, Chevron undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations define reserves associated with oil sands as mining-related and not a part of conventional crude oil and natural gas reserves.. U.S. investors should refer to disclosures about Canadian oil sands net proved reserves in Chevron's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005 filed with the SEC on March 1, 2006.

Chevron Corporation

CONTACT: San Ramon, Donald Campbell, +1-925-842-2589, or Calgary, JamesBates, +1-403-234-5337, or Sharon Murphy, +1-403-234-5780, all of Chevron

Web site: http://www.chevron.com/

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall

More News in this Category