Thursday, December 31, 2009

PetroChina Approved for Oil Sands Investment

PetroChina Canadian Oil Sands

PetroChina received the go ahead from Canada's Industry Minister Tony Clement to invest $1.7 billion into two Athabasca Oil Sands Corporation projects.

Clement stated concerning the deal: "I am satisfied that the investment is likely to be of net benefit to Canada." PetroChina will now own 60 percent of the Dover oil sands and Athabasca oil sands deposits.

Over the next three years PetroChina will pay out over $250 million for its part in developing the oil sands iniatives.

Estimated oil sands deposits at Dover and MacKay stand at about five million barrels.

Improved methods of extraction from oil sands, along with increasing oil prices, make the huge deposit of approximately 175 billion barrels of oil the largest oil reserves in the world outside of Saudi Arabia, the reputed No. 1 oil reserve country.

PetroChina Canadian Oil Sands

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