BQI: Oilsands Quest, a Calgary-based junior, has spearheaded
Saskatchewan's first bitumen play.
It's located in the province's far northwest, adjacent to
Alberta's giant Athabasca oilsands formation.
The company has oilsands holdings totalling 618,000 acres,
the greater part in Saskatchewan with contiguous sections
in Alberta.
In fact, it's Canada's largest continuous oilsands land assembly,
achieved because no major producer took the prospect seriously.
Much of that vast acreage remains largely uncharted despite
three seasons of aggressive exploration.
Last winter, Oilsands Quest drilled 175 wells,
including 150 in Saskatchewan and 25 in Alberta.
Paul O'Donoghue, its VP of investor relations and corporate
planning, says, "We expanded a program to further delineate
Axe Lake, and also stepped out and drilled exploration wells."
Initial production is slated to come from the Axe Lake area,
with pay zones at a depth of 185 to 200 m.
Vertical steam injection should begin on the first test site
in September, whose results will determine the time lines
for future activity.
O'Donoghue says Oilsands Quest is holding discussions with
other companies with a view to jointly developing the
regional prospect.
The Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) notes that the
province's little-recognized bitumen deposits were
previously deemed too deep for strip mining but too shallow
for exploitation through steam injection.
SRC energy VP Ernie Pappas says the provincial agency is now
working with producers to come up with solutions.
"We believe there is a process for successfully producing the
oil from depths of 200 m," Pappas says.
These are boom times for many energy companies in Saskatchewan.
And because Premier Brad Wall, who was sworn in last November,
has made it clear that the economic prosperity of the province
will be a priority of his government, it looks like
Saskatchewan will continue to have an increasingly larger
role in Canada's energy future for years to come.
