IN THE NEWS / Mobil Canada's Project Up In The Air, Say Experts
EDMONTON SUN
What about the Kearl oilsands upgrader?
Analysts disagreed yesterday and company spokesmen said they
don't know what will happen to Mobil Canada's proposed
$1-billion oilsands mine near Fort McMurray and $1-billion to
$1.5-billion bitumen upgrader project in the wake of its parent
company's merger with Exxon.
Exxon's Canadian company, Imperial Oil, is now in public
hearings for expansion of its Cold Lake heavy oil project. It also
owns 25% of Syncrude Canada, which is to open its Aurora
oilsands mine expansion by 2001.
Analysts said the merger means spending plans by the two
companies will be reviewed.
"Projects will be prioritized around the world," said Rick
Roberge, senior vice-president of the oil and gas group at
PricewaterhouseCoopers. "An oilsands project fits in with
Exxon's current strategy and, at this point, no one has any reason
to believe Mobil's oilsands will be in jeopardy."
But Ian Doig, oil analyst and publisher of Doig's Digest, thinks
Kearl may be in doubt.
"Syncrude is going ahead and Imperial is part of that," said Doig.
"Imperial is going ahead at Cold Lake. So, although Mobil's
talked the talk, I don't think they're really going to walk the walk
with Kearl.
"They certainly weren't going to walk that walk 100% on their
own, so I would think that's going to become a casualty."
The Kearl project still has no corporate sanction or regulatory
approval, said Mobil senior public affairs officer Sharon Dey
from the Fairfax, Virginia, head office.
Plans will be reviewed in the wake of the merger, she said.
Mobil has 950 Canadian staff, including about 200 at it Hibernia
and Sable Island projects in Eastern Canada, and 750 more in
Western Canada, most in Alberta, said Dey. The Kearl project
now has about 25 staff, she said.
Pius Rolheiser, Imperial Oil spokesman in Calgary, said it's too
early to say what will happen to its Alberta plans. Esso employs
1,500 Albertans.
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