Saturday, April 28, 2018 4:03:21 PM
Authorized Unlimited
Outstanding 16,593,719
52-Wk Range
0.012 - 0.498
OIL SANDS LEASES
As of December 31, 2017, the Company has a 100% interest in 56 oil sands leases located in the Peace River oil sands area, totaling 58,368 hectares. The Company owns 3 non-producing wells on these leases.
Oil Sands Background
“Oil Sands” refers to either unconsolidated, bitumen-saturated sands or bitumen-saturated carbonate-rock. Bitumen refers to a heavy, viscous crude oil that generally does not flow under natural reservoir conditions. As a result, it cannot be recovered from a conventional well in the way lighter oil is most often produced. The oil sands in Alberta are contained in three major areas in Alberta.
According to the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), Alberta's oil sands are the third-largest proven crude oil reserve in the world, with total proven reserves of 166 billion barrels, and total recent production of up to 2.4 million barrels per day.
These deposits contain a significant amount of oil but only in recent decades has commercial production become economic. Extraction of oil from oil sands requires the input of significant amounts of thermal energy or other technology. There are two main types of oil sands production methods: surface mining and in-situ. Surface mining is accomplished using an open pit operation whereby the oil sands are excavated and trucked to a processing facility. For oil sands reservoirs too deep to support surface mining, a technique known as in-situ recovery is utilized. In-situ production recovers the oil through a well, and utilizes thermal energy or other technologies to reduce the viscosity of the bitumen to allow it to flow to the well bore. There are some oil sands reservoirs where primary or “cold” production is possible. The oil in these reservoirs is light enough to flow to the well without thermal treatment, utilizing either vertical or horizontal wells.
Carboniferous Oil Sands
Carbonate oil sands, or carbonate-hosted bitumen, are unconventional resources that remain almost untapped. While much is known about Alberta’s vast sands-hosted bitumen resources, less is understood about a bitumen resource of similar magnitude which is hosted in carbonate rock directly beneath the sands. According to a report by Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada (PTAC), 26% of Alberta’s bitumen resources are contained in carbonate rather than sand formations. They are located in a roughly triangular 70,000 square-kilometer area of Alberta informally known as the Carbonate Triangle. The basic difference between sands and carbonates is that the former is bitumen mixed with unconsolidated sand, which can be either mined or produced from wells, whereas the latter is bitumen in carbonate rock. Currently, only pilot production of carbonate-hosted bitumen has taken place.
The Company has focused a portion of its efforts on the exploration and development of carbonate-hosted bitumen rather than just focusing on sand-hosted bitumen. The Company believes Alberta’s carbonate-hosted bitumen reservoirs represent an enormous and relatively untapped resource. The optimal means for producing bitumen from carbonates is still being studied, and there is unlikely to be a single Alberta-wide strategy for production. Cold production may be possible in some areas although in most cases production will require an in-situ treatment. Various technologies have been tested including similar technologies to those employed in the oil sands (cyclic steam, SAGD, and solvents.). There are several techniques which may prove to be effective. The Company is in the process of determining the most efficient means of producing bitumen from our projects.
Planned Work by the Company for 2018
The Company plans to continue focusing its resources on the analysis and development of its Peace River oil sands properties.
PEACE RIVER OIL SANDS LEASES
Acquisition of Interest
The Company has entered into a series of leases in multiple transactions with the Province of Alberta in the Peace River area of Alberta, Canada (the “Peace River Properties”). Some of the leases were acquired through a public auction process that requires the Company to submit sealed bids for land packages being auctioned by the provincial government. Upon being notified that it has submitted the highest bid for a specific land parcel, the Company immediately pays the Crown the bid price and enters into a formal lease agreement. The bid price includes the first year’s minimum annual lease payments. The remainder of the leases were acquired by third parties, however all the Company’s leases are leased directly with the Crown.
The Peace River Properties consist of a total of 58,368 hectares of land in a region of northern Alberta known as the Peace River oil sands region. The leases are subject to royalties payable to the Government of Alberta. Alberta's oil sands royalty regime operates on the principle of revenue minus cost. Royalty is paid at one of two rates, depending on the project’s status. The deciding factor is the project’s payout date . A project has “reached payout” once its cumulative revenues have exceeded its cumulative costs. Before the payout date, the applicable royalty is 1% of the project’s gross revenue. This low rate recognizes the high costs, long lead times and high risks associated with oil sands investment. It prevents undue strain on the developer’s financial resources during the most critical, start-up stages of the project. After the payout date, the applicable royalty is the greater of 1% of the project’s gross revenue or 25% of the net revenue for the period .
Peace River Projects
The Peace River properties (hereinafter referred to as “Cadotte West”, “Cadotte Central”, “Cadotte East”, the “Cadotte Leases” and the “Reno Leases”) are comprised of 56 oil sands leases with the Government of the Province of Alberta, Canada. All of the leases are for an initial 15-year term (and may then be converted to non-expiring leases) and require minimum annual lease payments to the Crown. Each lease grants the Company the right to explore for, develop and produce hydrocarbons from the geological formations described in each lease.
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