Athabasca Oil Corporation

Athabasca Oil Corporation
Public
Traded as TSX: ATH
Industry Oil sands
Founded Canada (2006)
Headquarters Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Key people
 Sveinung Svarte (CEO)
Number of employees
 60 (2010)[1]
Website www.atha.com

Athabasca Oil Corporation (formerly Athabasca Oil Sands Corporation) is a Canadian oil company based in Calgary, Alberta. The company owns or has interests in leases in the Athabasca oil sands of northeastern Alberta.

Operations

As of December 2009, Athabasca Oil Corporation owns leases and permits on 1,570,000 acres (6,400 km2) in the Athabasca oil sands, but does not operate any commercial developments.[2] As of June 2010, the company's reserves included an estimated 8.6 billion barrels (1.37×109 m3) of contingent resource (potentially recoverable oil) and 114 million barrels (18,100,000 m3) of probable reserves.[3] AOC sold 60% of two assets, included above, to PetroChina in 2009.

AOC intends to produce oil through the steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) method rather than through open-pit mining as older oil sands mines have.[4] SAGD projects require less surface area than open-pit, but must consume additional energy for steam generation.[4]

Ownership

The company's highly anticipated[5] initial public offering (IPO) in early 2010 was the largest Canadian IPO since that of Manulife Financial in 1999, and North America's largest in 2010 (as of March 31).[6] The sale, selling a 19% stake at CA$18 per share, valued the company at around CA$7 billion.[6]

The IPO's initial success was attributed in part to AOSC's 2009 asset sale to PetroChina, divesting 60% working interest in its Mackay River and Dover projects for CA$1.9 billion.[5][7][8]

Following the IPO, AOC's share price dropped 33% in the first month of trading, making it Canada's worst-performing IPO since 2007.[9]

Duvernay Formation

AOC's share price rose dramatically following the announcement of a $US1.2 billion Duvernay Formation acreage joint venture between Encana and PetroChina. Athabasca Oil Corporation holds the largest publicly disclosed Duvernay Formation acreage rights (640,000 acres).[10] [notes 1]

Notes

  1. ↑ This was the first oil sands joint venture between a Canadian company and a foreign state-owned company since Prime Minister Stephen Harper changed regulations in December 2012 making it almost impossible for state-owned companies to purchase controlling interests in oil sands projects. The success of this joint venture, which is within the new rules and regulations, is encouraging for overseas investors who want to access Canadian oil and natural gas resources and for companies like Athabasca Oil Corp. (ATH), Talisman Energy Inc. and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNQ) that need funds for drilling and development costs (Penty, Rebecca. December 17, 2012. Encanas PetroChina Partnership May Be First of Many. China Institute.

References

  1. ↑ "Athabasca Oil Sands Corporation (Public, TSE:ATH)". Google Finance Canada. Retrieved 2010-06-12.
  2. ↑ "Company Profile for Athabasca Oil Sands Corporation". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2010-06-12. Retrieved 2010-06-12.
  3. ↑ Healing, Dan (2010-06-11). "Athabasca Oil Sands boosts resource estimate". Calgary Herald. Retrieved 2010-06-12.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Tait, Carrie (2010-03-31). "Athabasca IPO sign of oil sands endorsement". Financial Post. Retrieved 2010-06-12.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Milstead, David (2010-03-22). "Pre-IPO bonanza for Athabasca backers". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2010-06-12.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Alexander, Doug (2010-03-31). "Athabasca Oil Sands Raises C$1.35 Billion in IPO (Update2)". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 2010-06-12. Retrieved 2010-06-12.
  7. ↑ Tait, Carrie (2009-08-31). "PetroChina takes $1.9-billion stake in oil sands". Financial Post. Retrieved 2010-06-12.
  8. ↑ "PetroChina offers $2B for oilsands stake". CBC News. 2009-08-31. Retrieved 2010-06-12.
  9. ↑ Alexander, Doug (2010-05-12). "Athabasca Oil Sands Is Worst Performing Canadian IPO Since 2007". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 2010-06-12.
  10. ↑ Rebecca Penty (December 17, 2012). "Encanas PetroChina Partnership May Be First of Many". Edmonton, AB: China Institute, University of Alberta. Retrieved February 1, 2013.

External links