Following in the footsteps of Suncor, major players in tar sands production are now getting into conventional oil and gas elsewhere.
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Athabasca eyes higher conventional budget
By Dan Healing, Calgary Herald
August 4, 2011
CALGARY — Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. said Thursday it is considering increasing its budget to explore on its conventional Deep Basin oil and gas assets for the second time this year.
The company, which raised eyebrows in March when it announced it had bought more than 400,000 hectares of drilling rights in west central Alberta, raised its capital spending plans in June from $40 million to $97.7 million and its work program from six wells to 14, citing promising results from initial horizontal wells.
In second-quarter results, it said it may expand its second half budget to add Duvernay drilling to that planned for Montney and Nordegg formations. All three formations are accessible on its lands in the Fox Creek area northwest of Edmonton.
Athabasca reported a net loss of $10.5 million or three cents per share for the three months ended June 30 compared with a net loss of $7.8 million or two cents per share in the same period last year.
It had interest revenue of $6.3 million in the latest quarter.
Athabasca reported its first Nordegg well is flowing at a restricted flow rate of over 500 barrels of oil equivalent per day and its second is producing 35 to 40 barrels per day of oil. It said it first Montney well has stabilized at about 1.1 million cubic feet per day of natural gas with 75 barrels of oil.
dhealign@calgaryherald.com
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