I have a holding in AOS, it released the following news yesterday. They have 56 million shares. I though we would move up and hold. Did I miss something in the release? Any comments will be most appreciated. I don't want to tie up the BB, so if you prefer just inbox me.
TIA
Alberta Oilsands estimates resources at Fort McMurray
2007-10-30 10:43 ET - News Release
Mr. Shabir Premji reports
ALBERTA OILSANDS INC. ANNOUNCES SIGNIFICANT RESOURCE INCREASE BASED ON INDEPENDENT RESOURCE ASSESSMENTS
Ryder Scott Company Canada, petroleum consultants, an independent petroleum consulting firm, has completed its National Instrument 51-101-compliant assessment of the bitumen resources for Alberta Oilsands Inc.'s Fort McMurray property and assigned 2.8 billion barrels of original bitumen in place (OBIP) for the McMurray formation. The Ryder Scott report classified the resource into undiscovered, discovered and contingent categories.
Fort McMurray
The Fort McMurray asset comprises approximately 28 sections (17,918 acres or 7,167 hectares) of 100-per-cent-working-interest oil sands leases. The land is situated amid the main oil sands fairway at Township 88, ranges 7 to 9, west of the 4 Meridian (Twp 88 R07W4M to R09W4M), in the Athabasca region of northeast Alberta, Canada.
Resource volumes assigned are 2.42 billion barrels discovered and 401 million barrels undiscovered. Ryder Scott has assigned contingent (recoverable) resources of 201 million barrels for a portion of the lands, using a 50-per-cent recovery factor and assuming a typical steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) process for extraction of the bitumen from the discovered resources.
The Fort McMurray resource assessment used open-hole logs and core data from penetrations on the land parcel as well as penetration data immediately offsetting the lands. There are a total of six well penetrations on the lands. Data from approximately 30 well penetrations on and offsetting the lands were used to estimate average reservoir parameters used in the OBIP calculation. A McMurray formation bitumen net pay contour map was created over the parcel area using net bitumen pay estimates from approximately 50 wells. Only net bitumen pay contours greater than 10 metres were included in the resource volume calculation.
The 201 million barrels contingent (recoverable) resources assigned in the report reflect areas of the Fort McMurray lands where there are high probability of bitumen pay and ready surface accessibility. AOS is preparing an oil sand exploration (OSE) application for a winter work program in this area. In addition, the company is pursuing consultation with shareholders over the remaining lands and will report further significant developments as they arise. The company expects its 2007/2008 winter coring program to result in the reclassification of current discovered resources into additional contingent resources and a portion of the current contingent resources to reserves.
The previously announced Ryder Scott 51-101-compliant resource assessment of the Hangingstone East property (news release dated May 17, 2007) yielded an estimated undiscovered resource of 1.15 billion barrels. AOS owns 23 sections of 100-per-cent-working-interest lease and permit lands on the Hangingstone East property.
Ryder Scott has also completed a resource assessment on a third prospect area, AOS's Hangingstone West (Algar Lake) property. The 51-101-compliant report assigned 807 million barrels of undiscovered unrecoverable resources for the property. The Ryder Scott report includes bitumen potential from the McMurray and Wabiskaw formations and included all pay potential without pay thickness cut-offs. The Ryder Scott findings are consistent with the AEUB Alberta Crude Bitumen Reserve Atlas (May, 1996) indication of approximately 800 million barrels OBIP in the area lands. The assessment was done at an early stage of resource delineation.
In summary, the three Ryder Scott resource assessments in the Ft. McMurray, Hangingstone East and Hangingstone West (Algar Lake) properties assign the company a total of approximately 4.8 billion barrels of discovered and undiscovered resources.
SUMMARY OF AOS'S TOTAL BITUMEN RESOURCE POTENTIAL
Property name Resources (millions of barrels)
Undiscovered Discovered Total
Fort McMurray 401 2,421(i) 2,822
Hangingstone East 1,150 0 1,150
Hangingstone West 807 0 807
Total resources 2,358 2,421 4,779
(i) Two hundred one million barrels of contingent (recoverable) resources
are assigned in the discovered resource category.
Shabir Premji, executive chairman of the company, stated: "The Fort McMurray asset is on the main Athabasca oil sands fairway. We will prioritize the delineation of this asset and focus on converting the bitumen resources to reserves as quickly as possible."
The company has entered into an arrangement to obtain a $5-million credit facility with a Canadian financial institution. Subject to regulatory approval, 116,279 common shares of the company are expected to be issued in connection with securing the credit facility.