Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Booms, Busts, and Recoveries -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (70109)	8/5/2008 3:25:50 PM
From: average joe	Respond to of 74559

Sask. oilsands could hold 6.5 billion barrels, company says Last Updated: Tuesday, August 5, 2008 \| 9:21 AM CT Comments5Recommend15CBC News The company developing oilsands in Saskatchewan's northwest says it's found four times more oil than it had estimated a year ago. Oilsands Quest says it's located as much as 6.5 billion barrels on property it's exploring along the northern Alberta-Saskatchewan border. Most of the property is on the Saskatchewan side of the border. According to CEO Chris Hopkins, the company, which is incorporated in Colorado and has its head office in Calgary, hopes to start a test drilling project later this fall. "It's big. We're talking about the potential in Saskatchewan alone, at our Axe Lake prospect, to bring in perhaps 100,000 barrels a day for perhaps 30 or more years," Hopkins said in a recent interview with CBC News. Hopkins said the 6.5-billion barrel estimate is optimistic, with two billion being a conservative estimate, but those numbers represent a small percentage of the lands Oilsands Quest has tested to date. "The likelihood of more is very high," he said. Instead of open pit mining, Oilsands Quest is planning an in situ project, where steam would be injected deep into the ground to make the oilsands material, bitumen, soft enough to transport via pipeline. Assessments to come Before the project proceeds, there will be environmental assessments and input from northern residents. Hopkins said three First Nations have asked the company to hold off on development until there's more consultation. Oilsands Quest has good relationships with residents in its area, Hopkins said, and has agreements in place with La Loche and surrounding communities. But he said it's up to Ottawa and the province to deal with concerns from aboriginal people. "My definition of consultation is communication. And we're communicating," he said. "There are legal definitions around consulting which are rights-based and interface the government and the communities. We're involved in communicating our positions as part of that process. But we don't have the duty to consult in that sense." More than 40 per cent of the employees hired to date in Saskatchewan are aboriginal, Hopkins said. If the Oilsands Quest venture proceeds, it will be Saskatchewan's first major oilsands project. cbc.ca