Athabasca Oil Corporation

Last updated

Athabasca Oil Corporation
Company typePublic
TSX:  ATH
Industry Oil & Gas
FoundedCanada (2006)
HeadquartersCalgary, Alberta, Canada
Key people
Rob Broen (President & CEO)
Number of employees
60 (2010) [1]
Website www.atha.com

Athabasca Oil Corporation is a Canadian energy company with a focused strategy on the development of thermal and light oil assets. Situated in Alberta's Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, the company has amassed a significant land base of extensive, high quality resources. Athabasca's common shares trade on the TSX under the symbol "ATH".

Contents

Operations

As of December 2009, Athabasca Oil Corporation owns leases and permits on 1,570,000 acres (6,400 km2) in the Athabasca oil sands, but does not operate any commercial developments. [2] As of June 2010, the company's reserves included an estimated 8.6 billion barrels (1.37×109 m3) of contingent resource (potentially recoverable oil) and 114 million barrels (18,100,000 m3) of probable reserves. [3] AOC sold 60% of two assets, included above, to PetroChina in 2009.

AOC intends to produce oil through the steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) method rather than through open-pit mining as older oil sands mines have. [4] SAGD projects require less surface area than open-pit, but must consume additional energy for steam generation. [4]

Ownership

The company's highly anticipated [5] initial public offering (IPO) in early 2010 was the largest Canadian IPO since that of Manulife Financial in 1999, and North America's largest in 2010 (as of March 31). [6] The sale, selling a 19% stake at CA$ 18 per share, valued the company at around CA$ 7,000,000,000. [6]

The IPO's initial success was attributed in part to AOSC's 2009 asset sale to PetroChina, divesting 60% working interest in its Mackay River and Dover projects for CA$ 1,900,000,000. [5] [7] [8]

Following the IPO, AOC's share price dropped 33% in the first month of trading, making it Canada's worst-performing IPO since 2007. [9]

In 2017, Athabasca purchased the entirety of Statoil's oil sands assets as the Norwegian giant exited the oil sands, including a producing plant, an undeveloped project, and some midstream assets. [10] AOC sold the midstream assets to Enbridge in 2018. [11]

Duvernay Formation

AOC's share price rose dramatically following the announcement of a $US1.2 billion Duvernay Formation acreage joint venture between Encana and PetroChina. Athabasca Oil Corporation holds the largest publicly disclosed Duvernay Formation acreage rights (640,000 acres). [12] [notes 1]

Notes

  1. ↑ This was the first oil sands joint venture between a Canadian company and a foreign state-owned company since Prime Minister Stephen Harper changed regulations in December 2012 making it almost impossible for state-owned companies to purchase controlling interests in oil sands projects. The success of this joint venture, which is within the new rules and regulations, is encouraging for overseas investors who want to access Canadian oil and natural gas resources and for companies like Athabasca Oil Corp. (ATH), Talisman Energy Inc. and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNQ) that need funds for drilling and development costs (Penty, Rebecca. December 17, 2012. Encanas PetroChina Partnership May Be First of Many. China Institute.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oil sands</span> Type of unconventional oil deposit

Oil sands, tar sands, crude bitumen, or bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. Oil sands are either loose sands or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and water, soaked with bitumen, a dense and extremely viscous form of petroleum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athabasca oil sands</span> Oil and bitumen deposits in Alberta, Canada

The Athabasca oil sands, also known as the Athabasca tar sands, are large deposits of bitumen, a heavy and viscous form of petroleum, located in northeastern Alberta, Canada. These reserves are one of the largest sources of unconventional oil in the world, making Canada a significant player in the global energy market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ovintiv</span> American energy company

Ovintiv Inc. is an American independent petroleum company. The company was formed in 2020 through a restructuring of its Canadian predecessor, Encana. Ovintiv is incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

Enbridge Inc. is a Canadian multinational pipeline and energy company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Enbridge owns and operates pipelines throughout Canada and the United States, transporting crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids, and also generates renewable energy. Enbridge's pipeline system is the longest in North America and the largest oil export pipeline network in the world. Its crude oil system consists of 28,661 kilometres of pipelines. Its 38,300 kilometre natural gas pipeline system connects multiple Canadian provinces, several US states, and the Gulf of Mexico. The company was formed by Imperial Oil in 1949 as the Interprovincial Pipe Line Company Limited to transport Alberta oil to refineries. Over time, it has grown through acquisition of other existing pipeline companies and the expansion of their projects.

Invest in Canada is an arms-length Government of Canada organization that promotes and attracts foreign direct investment into Canada. It was created through the Investment Canada Act and launched on March 12, 2018 as a departmental corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Oil Sands</span>

Canadian Oil Sands Limited was a Canadian company that generates income from its oil sands investment in the Syncrude Joint Venture. Syncrude operated an oil sands facility and produced crude oil through the mining of oil sands from ore deposits in the Athabasca region of northern Alberta, Canada.

Connacher Oil and Gas Limited is a Calgary-based exploration, development and production company active in the production and sale of bitumen in the Athabasca oil sands region. Connacher's shares used to trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange, but it was de-listed in 2016, after filing for insolvency.

This is an overview of Equinor's operations in various countries. Equinor is a Norwegian petroleum company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kearl Oil Sands Project</span>

The Kearl Oil Sands Project is an oil sands mine in the Athabasca Oil Sands region at the Kearl Lake area, about 70 kilometres (43 mi) north of Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada that is operated by the 143-year old Calgary, Alberta-headquartered Imperial Oil Limited—one of the largest integrated oil companies in Canada. Kearl is owned by Imperial Oil and is controlled by Imperial's parent company, ExxonMobil—an American multinational that is one of the largest in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Equinor</span> Norwegian energy company

Equinor ASA is a Norwegian state-owned multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger, Norway. It is primarily a petroleum company operating in 36 countries with additional investments in renewable energy. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, Equinor was ranked as the 169th-largest public company in the world. As of 2021, the company has 21,126 employees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort McKay First Nation</span>

The Fort McKay First Nation (FMFN) is a First Nations government in northeast Alberta comprising five Indian reserves – Fort McKay 174, Fort McKay 174C, Fort McKay 174D, Namur Lake 174B and Namur River 174A. The FMFN, signed to Treaty 8, is affiliated with the Athabasca Tribal Council and its members are of Cree, Metis and Dene heritage. The FMFN's traditional lands include portions of the Athabasca oil sands.

Japan Canada Oil Sands Limited (JACOS) was an oil sands extraction company. It was the operator of the Hangingstone oil sands project. JACOS was acquired by Greenfire Resources Operating Corporation in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian petroleum companies</span>

Although there are numerous oil companies operating in Canada, as of 2009, the majority of production, refining and marketing was done by fewer than 20 of them. According to the 2013 edition of Forbes Global 2000, canoils.com and any other list that emphasizes market capitalization and revenue when sizing up companies, as of March 31, 2014 these are the largest Canada-based oil and gas companies.

Cenovus Energy Inc. is a Canadian integrated oil and natural gas company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta.

The Duvernay Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Frasnian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long Lake (oil sands)</span> Airport in Anzac

The Long Lake oil sands upgrader project is an in situ oil extraction project near Anzac, Alberta, 40 km (25 mi) southeast of Fort McMurray in the Athabasca oil sands region of Alberta.

Inter Pipeline Ltd. is a multinational petroleum transportation and infrastructure limited partnership that is ranked among North America's leading natural gas and NGL's extraction businesses. It is one of Alberta's top 100 companies in terms of profit (85) and assets (94).

Pembina Pipeline is a Canadian corporation that operates transportation and storage infrastructure delivering oil and natural gas to and from parts of Western Canada ; there is also a natural gas processing business that takes place at the Cutbank Complex. Western Canada is the source of all the product transported by its systems. Some of the pipelines and facilities have short term contracts with oil producers while others are long term. For 37 years until 1997 when it went public and established itself as a trust, Pembina was a regular privately owned business. On October 1, 2010 it converted to a corporation from a trust, changing its official name from Pembina Pipeline Income Fund to Pembina Pipeline Corporation. As of 2016 the company had more than 1260 employees, up from 427 in 2010. The company's total assets nearly doubled in 2017.

Laricina Energy Ltd. was a private Canadian oil producing company engaged in exploration in North-Eastern Alberta. The company targeted oil sands opportunities outside of the Athabasca mining area and was focusing on in situ plays in the Grosmont and Grand Rapids formations. Its headquarters were located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Encana</span> Canadian independent petroleum company

Encana Corporation was a Canadian independent petroleum company that existed from 2002 to 2020. The company, stylised as EnCana until 2010, was created by David P. O'Brien of PanCanadian Petroleum and Gwyn Morgan of the Alberta Energy Company through the merger of their companies. At the time of its creation Encana was the world's largest independent petroleum company by measure of its value, production, and reserves. Morgan ran the company from its inception through the end of 2005. During its early years, Encana established its reputation as Canada's flagship energy company and an icon of Western Canadian business. In September 2005 it became Canada's largest corporation by market capitalisation for a brief time.

References

  1. ↑ "Athabasca Oil Sands Corporation (Public, TSE:ATH)". Google Finance Canada. Archived from the original on February 25, 2012. Retrieved June 12, 2010.
  2. ↑ "Company Profile for Athabasca Oil Sands Corporation". Reuters. Archived from the original on September 27, 2012. Retrieved June 12, 2010.
  3. ↑ Healing, Dan (June 11, 2010). "Athabasca Oil Sands boosts resource estimate". Calgary Herald . Retrieved June 12, 2010.[ dead link ]
  4. 1 2 Tait, Carrie (March 31, 2010). "Athabasca IPO sign of oil sands endorsement". Financial Post . Archived from the original on April 4, 2010. Retrieved June 12, 2010.
  5. 1 2 Milstead, David (March 22, 2010). "Pre-IPO bonanza for Athabasca backers". The Globe and Mail . Archived from the original on February 21, 2011. Retrieved June 12, 2010.
  6. 1 2 Alexander, Doug (March 31, 2010). "Athabasca Oil Sands Raises C$1.35 Billion in IPO (Update2)". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on August 5, 2011. Retrieved June 12, 2010.
  7. ↑ Tait, Carrie (August 31, 2009). "PetroChina takes $1.9-billion stake in oil sands". Financial Post. Retrieved June 12, 2010.[ permanent dead link ]
  8. ↑ "PetroChina offers $2B for oilsands stake". CBC News. August 31, 2009. Retrieved June 12, 2010.
  9. ↑ Alexander, Doug (May 12, 2010). "Athabasca Oil Sands Is Worst Performing Canadian IPO Since 2007". Bloomberg Businessweek . Archived from the original on May 20, 2010. Retrieved June 12, 2010.
  10. ↑ "Statoil completes the sale of its oil sands business" (Press release). Equinor (formerly Statoil). January 31, 2017. Retrieved February 16, 2020.
  11. ↑ Jaremko, Deborah (December 12, 2018). "Athabasca selling oilsands midstream assets to Enbridge for $265 million". JWN Energy. Retrieved February 16, 2020.
  12. ↑ Rebecca Penty (December 17, 2012). "Encanas PetroChina Partnership May Be First of Many". Edmonton, AB: China Institute, University of Alberta. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved February 1, 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.