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 Company Provides Guidance on Integrated Oil Sands Strategy CALGARY, ALBERTA--(CCNMatthews - Oct. 3, 2006) - Petro-Canada's 10 billion barrel oil sands resource is the engine of growth that will propel the company to a leading position among oil sands developers, Petro-Canada executives today will explain to an Investor Day audience. "We're sitting on 10 billion barrels of total oil sands resource," said Neil Camarta, Petro-Canada's Senior Vice-President, Oil Sands. "And we now have an integrated strategy in place to bring it to market." "On the mining side, with the Fort Hills project we're zeroing in on the best approach to get the oil from dirt to market," added Camarta. "We recognize that we're swimming against the tide of rising project costs - and this is the only time when we can do something about it. We're not going to rush things." Initial Fort Hills estimates will be available early next year as part of the Design Basis Memorandum, which defines the intended size of the project and other important design parameters. Petro-Canada is targeting Fort Hills bitumen production of 150,000 to 170,000 barrels per day in 2011. Subsequent phases could increase the total production to 370,000 b/d, pending regulatory approval. The project includes a planned upgrader in Sturgeon County, 40 kilometres northeast of Edmonton in Alberta's industrial heartland. The upgrader will initially process up to 170,000 b/d of bitumen from the Fort Hills mine into as much as 145,000 b/d of synthetic crude oil, pending regulatory approval. The crude will then be marketed for refining into consumer products such as gasoline and diesel. Subsequent phases could increase the total upgrader capacity to about 320,000 b/d of synthetic crude by 2015. |
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