Total in £720m oil sands deal
7 Jul 2010
Paris – Total E&P Canada Ltd., a Total subsidiary, is to acquire UTS Corp. with its main asset, a 20% interest in the Fort Hills mining project in the Athabasca region of the Canadian province of Alberta. The acquisition, from UTS Energy Corp. (UTS), remains subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.
Under the agreement, UTS will transfer its assets, other than its Fort Hills interest, to a newly formed company and Total E&P Canada. Including cash held by UTS and acquired by Total – CAD355 million (£222 million) – the cost of the acquisition for Total is around CAD1.15 billion.
The Fort Hills project is operated by Canada’s Suncor Energy Inc. with a 60% interest, the remaining 20% held by Teck Resources Ltd. The most recent estimates put Fort Hills’ resources at around 3.4 billion barrels of bitumen, which will be recovered through open-pit mining.
The project will be developed in two phases. The first phase of approximately 160,000 barrels per day has already obtained the necessary administrative approvals to launch the development in the near future with a target production start-up, as expected by Total, in 2015-2016.
The earn-in costs owed to UTS by its Fort Hills partners (approximately CAD 704 million) will be transferred to Total, which means that the net acquisition cost to Total for approximately 680 million barrels of resources is CAD 0.65 per barrel.
Parallel to this transaction, Total is considering divesting some of its interest in the Joslyn mine, while retaining its role as operator, with the objective of an approximately 50% stake.
Yves-Louis Darricarrère, president of Total Exploration and Production, said the acquisition would “allow us to strengthen and reorganize our asset portfolio in the Canadian oil sands. With Suncor Energy Inc., we will benefit from the experience of a leading partner, whose expertise in the mining operation of oil sands is well recognized. “
Total operates the Joslyn project with a 75% interest. Production potential of this mining project is currently estimated at 200,000 barrels per day (b/d). It also owns a 50% interest in the Surmont SAGD1 project. Phase 1 production began in 2007 and currently averages 20,000 b/d.
Plateau production is expected to be 27,000 barrels per day. Phase 2 began recently, with production scheduled to start up in 2015, enabling Surmont’s total production to increase to around 110,000 barrels per day. Further development phases are under study.
Total also has a 50% interest in the Northern Lights project following the 2008 acquisition of Canada’s Synenco Energy.
