| Former type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Oil and Gasoline |
| Fate | Acquired by Marathon Oil Corporation |
| Founded | Calgary, Alberta |
| Defunct | 2007 |
| Headquarters | Calgary, Alberta |
| Key people | James C. Houck, President & CEO, David A. Dyck, Vice President & CFO |
| Products | Oil & gas exploration and production |
| Revenue | $910.330 million CAN (2005) |
| Website | www.westernoilsands.com |
Western Oil Sands, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta was a 20 percent partner in the Athabasca Oil Sands Project. Together with their partners, Western Oil Sands mines and extracts recoverable bitumen reserves at the Muskeg River Mine for transportation to the Scotford Upgrader, 435 km to the south, for upgrading into synthetic crude oil.
On May 30, 2006, the company announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, WesternZagros Limited, entered into an Exploration Production Sharing Agreement (EPSA) with the Kurdistan Regional Government, Sulaymaniyah Administration to explore for conventional oil and gas in the Federal Region of Kurdistan. This agreement was to become effective when it was passed into law which is expected to occur in the coming months.
On July 31, 2007 the company announced a plan of arrangement with Marathon Oil Corporation. For approximately $6.6 billion, Marathon was to acquire all of Western's outstanding common shares and gain ownership of its 20 percent stake in the Athabasca Oil Sands Project. Western subsidiary WesternZagros Limited was to spin off into WesternZagros Resources Inc., whose new shares were to be distributed to existing shareholders. All of Western's assets in the Federal Region of Kurdistan were to be controlled by WesternZagros Resources, Inc.