Southern Pacific Resource Corp STPJF

RE: Osum to buy Orion oil sands project from Shell Canada for $

[freedom45]

that's good value for a non core asset they wrote down and have had for sale for 2 years................................................. Royal Dutch Shell PLC is focusing its future oil sands growth on the Peace River area as it looks for a buyer for a Cold Lake, Alta.-area heavy oil project that it acquired six years ago as part of a $2.4-billion acquisition. The Anglo-Dutch super major is selling its Orion project, which produces 5,000 barrels a day of heavy oil using steam-assisted, in-situ processes and has the capacity to expand to 10,000 barrels a day. More related to this story • Shell Canada to buy BlackRock • Investors question Shell's price for BlackRock • Shell's deepwater deal spurs calls for independent safety agency in Nova Scotia Market View Video: Why oil remains key to the economy “The decision to divest this asset is part of our ongoing efforts to manage our overall heavy oil portfolio to focus on our core assets,” company spokesman David Williams said. “We have decided to focus our in-situ growth aspirations on our Peace River oil sands assets where we have a significant resource base.” Shell purchased the Orion project along with the Peace River acreage from BlackRock Ventures Inc. in 2006 for $2.4-billion, but later wrote down the properties by $1-billion saying they had fallen down the company’s list of priorities. Scotia Waterous, the Calgary-based investment bank that is managing the sale, said the Orion property had operating income of $15.6-million in the first quarter of 2012.