To: Chispas who wrote (53098 ) 7/8/2006 1:36:47 PM From: mishedlo Read Replies (3) | Respond to of 116555 Fears growing in wake of expected 50% cost increase at Shell oilsands plant CALGARY (CP) - Fears that cost pressures have spiralled out of control in the northern Alberta oilsands spooked investors Thursday in the wake of news that Shell Canada's (TSX:SHC) Athabasca oilsands project could potentially pay upwards of $11 billion to generate an extra 100,000 barrels of oil a day. Even in an industry that has seen its share of multibillion-dollar cost overruns to build megaprojects, word that Athabasca's first major expansion could cost 50 per cent higher than the current $7.3 billion pricetag hit oilsands producers hard on the stock market. Bob Gillon, an energy analyst with John S Herold in Connecticut, said the Athabasca expansion would now cost six times what the original project did, on a daily flowing barrel basis. "It's not a knock on Shell or this project, everybody's facing it," Gillon said in an interview Thursday. "But my Lord in heaven. If you're talking about something that cost you six times as much as it did six or eight years ago, even with the move we've had in oil prices, we're getting these things back to where the economics . . . are going to get skinny in a hurry." Western Oil Sands (TSX:WTO), a pure-play oilsands producer with a 20 per cent minority stake in the Athabasca development, bore the biggest brunt from nervous investors, dropping $3.70 or nearly 12 per cent to $27.30 in trading of nearly 3.6 million shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday. Shell Canada, which owns 60 per cent of Athabasca but also has a diversified energy portfolio with large natural gas operations throughout Canada and a national gasoline station network, lost nearly two per cent or 81 cents to $40.99. Gillon said at $11 billion, the company is paying twice as much for 100,000 barrels of oilsands crude as it would by buying conventional production. "Now, it lasts forever and it doesn't decline, and supposedly once you get it running you don't have the maintenance capital to stay in position. But that's not so sure either - sometimes they break, they catch fire." Gillon said the dramatic cost escalations could ultimately put an end to oilsands companies drawing the largest investment dollars in the energy industry. A long list of new projects that have not yet begun development might be dropped off the list, said Gillon. While projects that have already been built or are well underway, such as those owned by Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ) or Nexen Inc. (TSX:NXY) might even attract greater market interest. Other industry observers didn't expect the latest cost overrun announcement to stop growth in the oilsands, which has been receiving international attention as one of the few oil producing regions expecting large production growth in the future. "We don't believe that the market's going to stop, we don't believe even that the rate of production addition is even going to slow down," said Steven Paget, an oilsands analyst with FirstEnergy Capital in Calgary. .... ....canada.com