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China Buys Athabasca Oil Sands

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Mike

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PetroChina Buys Oil-Sands Project
Wall Street Journal | EDWARD WELSCH


CALGARY—Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. said it was selling a 40% stake in one of its oil-sands prospects to PetroChina Co., a move that for the first time will give full ownership of such a project to a Chinese company.

Athabasca is selling its remaining interest in the MacKay River project in northern Alberta to PetroChina for C$680 million, or US$666 million. In 2010, Athabasca sold 60% stakes in MacKay and a separate development, Dover, to PetroChina for C$1.9 billion. …

Canada holds the world's third-largest reserves of oil. Most of those are oil-sands—essentially a mix of bitumen and quartz sand—located in the western Canadian province of Alberta. Oil-sands output has grown quickly, and Alberta and Canadian officials have sought out new markets.

That has particularly been the case after the U.S. State Department late last year delayed a decision on a pipeline proposed to carry oil from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said it would actively market its oil to Asian buyers, including China. The Canadian government has said it backs the construction of another pipeline running from Alberta to the Pacific, where oil could be loaded onto tankers bound for Asia. …


(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
 
so, the greenies throw a fit, and China benefits..... our govt is so stupid. just do what is right, and stop listening to the loud minority.
 
Does this mean the Keystone XL pipeline could be used to ship all of the oil from these fields to China with no allowance to and by the USA?

If so, I am against the XL pipeline completely and hope it is shut down permanently.
 
I helped judge the creed speaking in ONeil Ne last week. The pipeline will not go through. :wink: I wish I would of had more time.. It was interesting. Don't ask me to say more.... I can't... :wink:
 
PetroChina has had controlling interest in this company for quite a while. What difference does another 40% make?
 
Mike said:
Does this mean the Keystone XL pipeline could be used to ship all of the oil from these fields to China with no allowance to and by the USA?

If so, I am against the XL pipeline completely and hope it is shut down permanently.

I think it means that since the Keystone XL pipeline isn't being built that we will build another pipeline running west instead of south and sell to China.
 
jigs said:
so, the greenies throw a fit, and China benefits..... our govt is so stupid. just do what is right, and stop listening to the loud minority.

I agree.
I'm beginnning to wonder why any company would try to do business here
with the greenies in control... :mad:

Canda certainly runs their ountry better than the USA. We could take a
lesson or two...
 
katrina said:
I helped judge the creed speaking in ONeil Ne last week. The pipeline will not go through. :wink: I wish I would of had more time.. It was interesting. Don't ask me to say more.... I can't... :wink:

Katrina, what is the 'creed speaking' contest and what does it have
to do with the pipeline? Or were people there just talking about it?
 
Silver said:
PetroChina has had controlling interest in this company for quite a while. What difference does another 40% make?

100% of the say in everything...............................
 
Faster horses said:
katrina said:
I helped judge the creed speaking in ONeil Ne last week. The pipeline will not go through. :wink: I wish I would of had more time.. It was interesting. Don't ask me to say more.... I can't... :wink:

Katrina, what is the 'creed speaking' contest and what does it have
to do with the pipeline? Or were people there just talking about it?

:) :) It was FFA :D And yes it was just judges visiting..
 
Mike said:
Silver said:
PetroChina has had controlling interest in this company for quite a while. What difference does another 40% make?

100% of the say in everything...............................


They already had control. 60 percent or 100 percent, makes no difference. But the thing is what Petrochina now has is just a little part of the overall tarsands play.
 
The Keystone XL is meant to travel southeaserly from Alberta into the USA. None of the oil going through this proposed pipeline would wind up in China unless it were loaded onto tankers in the Gulf of Mexico. Unlikely. If the greenies are able to thwart the construction of the Keystone XL then Canada's alternative is to build a pipeline west to the coast. This pipeline is referred to as the Northern Gateway. There is no shortage of enviro weenies protesting this proposal. Aboriginals as well. Hearings and environmental reviews with regard to the Northern Gateway are underway. Athabasca Oil Sands Corp sold their interest in the Mackay Project, to Petro China, which is located north of Fort McMurray in the heart of the oilsands. They are active in other parts of the western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. I know this because I am managing a seismic job that is being done, in nortwestern Alberta, for AOSC.
 
Silver said:
Mike said:
Silver said:
PetroChina has had controlling interest in this company for quite a while. What difference does another 40% make?

100% of the say in everything...............................


They already had control. 60 percent or 100 percent, makes no difference. But the thing is what Petrochina now has is just a little part of the overall tarsands play.

If there is no difference, why buy the other 40%?
 
My understanding was the Koch brothers who headquarter out of Wichita Kansas were the big part of the money behind the XL Pipeline project- as they want oil from Canada and the Bakken Field for their refineries in the Gulf... (From which they probably would export some of the product.)

And as this article says- the US, while still an importer of crude oils, as an EXPORTER of refined oil products, now EXPORTS more than it IMPORTS.....

Oil boomlet sweeps U.S. as exports and production rise

By Wendy Koch, USA TODAYUpdated 12/19/2011 7:54 AM


The U.S. exported more oil-based fuels than it imported in the first nine months of this year, making it likely that 2011 will be the first time since 1949 that the nation is a net exporter of such goods, primarily diesel.

That's not all. The U.S. has reversed another decades-long trend. It began producing more crude oil in 2008 than the year before and accelerated that upswing 3% in the first nine months of this year compared with the same period in 2010. That production has helped reduce U.S. imports of crude oil by about 10% since 2006.



"It's dramatic. It's transformative," Edward Morse, a former senior U.S. energy official who now directs global commodities research at Citigroup, says of the historic shifts. He says the U.S. is importing a smaller share — 49% in 2010, down from 60% in 2005 — of the oil it uses, adding: "We're moving toward energy independence."


He says the U.S. economy benefits, because its low natural gas prices help make its steel and other manufacturing industries more competitive. He says U.S. consumers benefit with more jobs and gasoline prices that are lower and less volatile than in many countries.

Not all are cheering. The changes are exacting a brutal toll on the nation's health and environment, says Susan Casey-Lefkowitz of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), citing the greenhouse gas emissions of producing and refining fossil fuels.

The U.S., the world's second-largest greenhouse gas emitter after China, produced 4% more carbon dioxide last year than in 2009, when emissions dipped because of the recession, according to the Global Carbon Project, an international group of scientists.

American consumers benefit little from the U.S. oil boomlet, because their fuel prices depend heavily on a global oil market that remains tight and has probably already peaked in production, says Jeremy Rifkin, author of The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power is Transforming Energy, the Economy and the World.

Perhaps the bigger impact is on American foreign policy. The U.S. oil boomlet has amplified concurrent shifts in the global oil market. Today, half of net U.S. petroleum imports come from the Western Hemisphere, and half of that (or a quarter of the total) comes from Canada. Only 12% came from Saudi Arabia last year, down from nearly 19% in 1993.

"What's occurring is a rebalancing of the world oil supply," says Daniel Yergin, energy historian and author of The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World. He says Brazil's newly produced offshore oil, which he calls "presalt" because it's beneath a thick layer of salt, will further tip the scales.

"The importance of the Middle East has decreased for us," says Michael Klare, author of the forthcoming The Race for What's Left: The Global Scramble for the World's Last Resources. "That's a dramatic change in the geopolitical equation."


Why the U.S. shifts?
What's driving the boomlet is increased production of two resources that previously weren't considered economically viable to develop.

"It's a double-barreled development, pardon the pun," says Martin Tallett, president of EnSys Energy, a Massachusetts-based oil industry consulting firm. He did a study for the Department of Energy on the proposed $7 billion Keystone pipeline, which would carry oil or tar sands from Canada through six U.S. states to the Gulf Coast.

This heavy crude — a mixture of sand, water, clay and a viscous oil known as bitumen — is found primarily in Canada's Alberta province. It's increasingly being exported to the U.S., where it's refined into petroleum products, many for export. Its production surpassed 1.1 million barrels per day in 2005 and is expected to nearly triple by 2015, according to Canada's National Energy Board.

The other resource is sometimes called "shale oil" but more accurately "tight oil," because it comes from shale and other rock formations. (It's different from "oil shale," which contains the oil precursor kerogen but remains costly to develop.)

Tight oil, produced mostly from the Bakken shale formation in North Dakota and Montana and the Eagle Ford one in Texas, is extracted in much the same way as natural gas — pumping pressurized water, sand and chemicals underground to fracture the rock and break loose the oil so it can flow to the surface. This process is often called "fracking."

"It's the new, new thing," Yergin, the energy historian, says of tight oil. He says its U.S. production could skyrocket to 2.9 million barrels per day by 2020. North Dakota, which accounts for the vast majority of this oil, produced 488,066 barrels per day in October 2011, up from 90,196 in January 2005, according to the state's Department of Mineral Resources.

"When shale gas worked, people said, 'Maybe this works for oil, too,' " Yergin says, noting that oil brings a higher return than natural gas. The result? A surge in production within the last two years. Yergin says this has produced needed jobs in an overall weak U.S. economy and, by expanding the global oil supply, has helped prevent or offset price spikes.

Tallett says the U.S. has been able to capitalize on that production because it has a flexible and efficient refinery network.

"We have some of the better refineries in the world — certainly the most complex," he says, adding they can handle different types of crude oil and shift their product line quickly to meet demand. He says they've upped production of diesel fuel, which is in great demand worldwide, and reduced that for gasoline, now in surplus.

Other factors contributing to the U.S. net export of petroleum products is the federally mandated use of ethanol, which has boosted its production and reduced demand for regular gasoline.

Gasoline demand is also down because Americans are driving less. They've been driving fewer miles every month since March, according to a USA TODAY analysis of data from the Federal Highway Administration.

Simply put, "The U.S. has been using less and producing more," says James Hamilton, an economics professor at the University of California-San Diego.

Environmentalists are concerned that the higher production of these unconventional, harder-to-reach oil resources carries increased dangers for air and water quality.

The NRDC's Casey-Lefkowitz says the development of tar sands produces more greenhouse gas emissions than that of regular crude oil, and if spilled, the heavy crude can be more difficult to clean up because of its viscosity. She says its production has taken off without regard to safety.

"My fear is that the same is happening with tight oil deposits," she says. "Whenever you fracture shale to get at oil," she says, "you're flaring off methane." The process wastes natural gas and uses huge volumes of water.

On Dec. 8, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said fracking might cause groundwater pollution. It said compounds likely associated with fracking chemicals had been detected in the groundwater beneath Pavillion, in central Wyoming.



http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/story/2011-12-16/us-oil-boom/52053236/1
 
Mike said:
Silver said:
Mike said:
100% of the say in everything...............................


They already had control. 60 percent or 100 percent, makes no difference. But the thing is what Petrochina now has is just a little part of the overall tarsands play.

If there is no difference, why buy the other 40%?

I'm guessing to make 100% of the money. You do realize there many companies developing the tar sands right?
 
Mike said:
Does this mean the Keystone XL pipeline could be used to ship all of the oil from these fields to China with no allowance to and by the USA?

If so, I am against the XL pipeline completely and hope it is shut down permanently.

That's the way that I'm kind of thinking now. The way that China plays ball, you know damn well that there will be nothing in it for us.
 
Here is a list of oil sand plays. You might notice Athabasca is only one. There just might be a barrel available from one of these other plays.


* Cold Lake Orion Click To View Satellite Image
* Syncrude (Mildred Lk. & Aurora N.) Click To View Satellite Image
* Foster Creek Click To View Satellite Image
* Christina Lake Click To View Satellite Image
* Firebag Project Click To View Satellite Image
* Athabasca Oil Sands (Muskeg River) Click To View Satellite Image
* Mackay River Click To View Satellite Image
* MEADOW CREEK Click To View Satellite Image
* Horizon Oil Sands Project (Mic Mac) Click To View Satellite Image
* Hangingstone Project Click To View Satellite Image
* Jackfish (1,2 And 3) Click To View Satellite Image
* NORTHERN LIGHTS PROJECT Click To View Satellite Image
* TUCKER (HUSKY ENERGY) Click To View Satellite Image
* CARIBOU (HUSKY ENERGY)
* Suncor (Base/Millennium/Steepbank) Click To View Satellite Image
* FORT HILLS Click To View Satellite Image
* WHITESANDS (MAY RIVER) Click To View Satellite Image
* JOSLYN Click To View Satellite Image
* Seal Click To View Satellite Image
* OIL SANDS (MICRON) Click To View Satellite Image
* CHIPMUNK
* Christina Lake (Meg Energy) Click To View Satellite Image
* JACKPINE MINE Click To View Satellite Image
* Telephone Lake/Borealis Click To View Satellite Image
* Peace River Heavy Oil Complex Click To View Satellite Image
* SUNRISE (HUSKY ENERGY) Click To View Satellite Image
* SALESKI (HUSKY ENERGY) Click To View Satellite Image
* Cold Lake (Imperial Oil) Click To View Satellite Image
* KEARL Click To View Satellite Image
* EQUINOX PROJECT (LEASE 14) Click To View Satellite Image
* LEASE 634
* LEASE 311
* Surmont Click To View Satellite Image
* SINCOR
* EMERILLON LEASE
* OSL 354
* CERRO NEGRO - EXXON Click To View Satellite Image
* PETROZUATA
* HAMACA Click To View Satellite Image
* GROSMONT (WOODENHOUSE) Click To View Satellite Image
* LLOYDMINSTER
* LEASES 353, 442 AND 472
* Great Divide (Connacher) Click To View Satellite Image
* SEAL PROJECT (PEACE RIVER)
* FORT MCMURRAY
* ELLS RIVER IN SITU Click To View Satellite Image
* SAWN LAKE Click To View Satellite Image
* SOUTH LEISMER
* EAGLES NEST PROSPECT
* AXE LAKE (PS00208 & PS00210)
* CLONCURRY (TOOLEBUC)
* FRONTIER (INCLUDING JOINT LEASES)
* SOUTH ATHABASCA
* MISTHAE Click To View Satellite Image
* BEAVERDAM
* LOBSTICK - HUSKY Click To View Satellite Image
* PEACE RIVER - HUSKY
* HOOLE Click To View Satellite Image
* KIRBY
* CLEARWATER WEST/EAST AND PILOT Click To View Satellite Image
* WILKIE AREA
* ATHABASCA OIL SANDS SECTIONS
* LEISMER OIL SANDS PROJECT
* ATHABASCA OIL SANDS WEST REGION
* PEACE RIVER OIL SANDS
* MUSKWA
* COTTONWOOD OPTI
* LEISMER (OPTI/NEXEN)
* PEACE RIVER (FIRESTEEL)
* LONG LAKE/ SOUTHERN PACIFIC
* HANGINGSTONE WEST
* KIRBY LAKE
* ALGAR LAKE
* HANGINGSTONE EAST (ALBERTA OILSANDS/CONNACHER)
* OQI SASK OIL SANDS LICENCES
* Heavy Oil Business (Lindbergh) Click To View Satellite Image
* MCMULLEN LEASES
* SUTTON CREEK
* LEASES 421,022 AND 023
* WALLACE CREEK OIL SANDS
* DAWSON PROJECT
* KERROBERT
* Primrose/ Wolf Lake Click To View Satellite Image
* KIRBY (CANADIAN NATURAL) Click To View Satellite Image
* SURMONT (MEG ENERGY)
* Pelican Lake Click To View Satellite Image
* KAI KOS DEHSEH (LEISMER) Click To View Satellite Image
* GRAND RAPIDS (ALBERTA OILSANDS INC.)
* ALGAR LAKE (GRIZZLY) Click To View Satellite Image
* GERMAIN Click To View Satellite Image
* SALESKI (LARICINA/OSUM) Click To View Satellite Image
* POPLAR CREEK
* BURNT LAKES
* BIRCH MOUNTAIN (W. HORIZON)
* GROUSE
* GREGOIRE LAKE
* TAMARACK (IVANHOE ENERGY) Click To View Satellite Image
* HARPER
* THICKWOOD
* LEGEND LAKE
* WEST ELLS
* HALFWAY CREEK
* ELLS RIVER (PATCH INTERNATIONAL)
* MACKAY RIVER (ATHABASCA OIL SANDS CORP.) Click To View Satellite Image
* DOVER OIL SANDS Click To View Satellite Image
* BLACKROD
* POPLAR CREEK (ET-DSP) Click To View Satellite Image
* NARROWS LAKE Click To View Satellite Image
* HANGINGSTONE (ATHABASCA OIL SANDS CORP.)
* BLACKGOLD OIL SANDS
* TAIGA (COLD LAKE) Click To View Satellite Image
* GRAND RAPIDS/GREATER PELICAN
* SALESKI (OSUM) Click To View Satellite Image
* LIEGE OIL SANDS
* CHARD
* PIERRE RIVER
* KIRBY (BP/DEVON)
* GEMINI (KOCH EXPLORATION)
* Pungarayacu Heavy Oil Field (Block 20)
* Growth
* Roncott property
* Little Swan
* Mannville (Perpetual)
* Panny
* Liege (Perpetual)
 
That's the way that I'm kind of thinking now. The way that China plays ball, you know damn well that there will be nothing in it for us.

Except oil. Try and remember which direction the pipeline runs.
 
And here is a list of companies with oil sands projects. The discerning eye may pick out the fact that Petrochina is not quite the only player :roll:



* HABANERO RESOURCES INC.
* FIRESTEEL RESOURCES INC.
* GOVERNMENT OF SASKATCHEWAN
* BLACKPEARL RESOURCES INC.
* TITANIUM CORPORATION INC.
* SOUTHERN PACIFIC RESOURCE CORP.
* TECK RESOURCES LIMITED
* EXXON MOBIL CORP.
* DELORO RESOURCES LTD.
* EXCO RESOURCES LIMITED
* SYNCRUDE CANADA LTD.
* CANADIAN OIL SANDS TRUST
* CANADIAN OIL SANDS LIMITED PARTNERSHIP
* CONOCOPHILLIPS
* IMPERIAL OIL LIMITED
* MOCAL ENERGY LTD.
* MURPHY OIL CORP.
* NEXEN INC.
* SUNCOR ENERGY INC.
* ALBIAN SANDS ENERGY INC.
* MARATHON OIL CORP
* CHEVRON CANADA LIMITED
* CANADIAN NATURAL RESOURCES LIMITED
* JAPAN CANADA OIL SANDS LIMITED (JACOS)
* DEVON ENERGY CORPORATION
* HUSKY ENERGY INC.
* ATIKWA RESOURCES INC.
* PARADIGM METALS LIMITED
* SATURN MINERALS INC.
* CHEVRON CORP.
* TOTAL SA
* MEG ENERGY CORP.
* SINOPEC CORP.
* PETROBANK ENERGY AND RESOURCES LTD.
* MICRON ENVIRO SYSTEMS INC
* TALISMAN ENERGY INC.
* ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC
* ENERPLUS RESOURCES FUND
* CONNACHER OIL AND GAS LIMITED
* PAN ORIENT ENERGY CORP.
* PENN WEST ENERGY TRUST
* OILSANDS QUEST INC.
* ALBERTA OILSANDS INC.
* PENGROWTH ENERGY TRUST
* PATCH INTERNATIONAL INC.
* BP PLC
* DEEP WELL OIL AND GAS INC.
* OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM CORP.
* CHINA INVESTMENT CORP.
* CENOVUS ENERGY INC.
* STATOIL ASA
* LARICINA ENERGY LTD.
* GRIZZLY OIL SANDS ULC
* VALUE CREATION INC.
* E-T ENERGY LTD.
* IVANHOE ENERGY INC.
* ATHABASCA OIL SANDS CORP.
* KOREA NATIONAL OIL CORP.
* PETROCHINA INTERANTIONAL INVESTMENT COMPANY LIMITED
* OSUM OIL SANDS CORP.
* SUNSHINE OILSANDS LTD.
* SILVERBIRCH ENERGY CORP.
* KOCH EXPLORATION CANADA CORP.
* PERPETUAL ENERGY INC.
* IVANHOE ENERGY ECUADOR INC.
* CNOOC LIMITED
 

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