Canadian Oil Sand Trust (COS.WF) report of Q1 results demonstrates the power of higher oil prices to leverage its cash flow.  Based on an average WTI price of $97.82, up from $58.23 in 1Q07 (+68%), operating cash flow rocketed ahead 119%, to C$0.98 vs. C$0.42 per share despite plant outages that caused unit sales to fall by 9%.  

The company’s decision to boost its quarterly dividend by 33% to C$1.00 per share demonstrates its confidence in the continuation of strong cash flow.  Since the company cannot control the price of …

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Imperial oil sands plans dealt blow DAVID EBNER From Monday’s Globe and Mail CALGARY — — The federal government has revoked a key water permit for Imperial Oil Ltd.’s proposed $8-billion Kearl oil sands mine, delaying work on a major new oil sands development as environmental scrutiny of the massive projects around Fort McMurray intensifies. Imperial is majority-owned by Exxon Mobil Corp.

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An extensive research report published in the Globe and Mail discusses the importance of water to extracting oil from the oil sands.  A key assertion is this: ” The degree of water use directly reflects the quality of ore recovered, says Bruce Peachey, president of New Paradigm Engineering in Edmonton. “We are presently mining the best ores. But as clay content increases, the volume of water needed in production will increase. So this is the good time for water.”

Water may well be a limiting factor in the growth of oil …

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March 10, 2008 at 10:17 AM EDT CALGARY — — Canadian Oil Sands Trust [COS.UN-T] said recoverable resources at the Syncrude oil sands project amounted to 12.7 billion barrels, up from prior estimate of 9 billion. The increase in estimated recoverable resources “reflects the reporting of a new category, known as prospective resources, as well as mine pit design criteria that expand the pit sizes in some areas, consistent with the current business environment,” the company said Proved plus probable reserves were 4.9 billion barrels, largely unchanged …

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  The President of Royal Dutch Shell has published a white paper on the company’s web site which is bold in its candor and its vision.  In addition to advocating actions against human caused global warming, Mr. van der Veer says that crude oil production will peak in 2015, that supplemental sources of oil will be needed and that conservation efforts need to be increased.  His vision is remarkably close to the one I have described on this site.    Reading between the lines, one …

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Petrobank Plans C$225 Million Oil-Sands Project (Update2) By Ian McKinnon Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) — Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd., the best performing energy stock this year in Canada, plans to spend C$225 million ($226.4 million) to develop an oil-sands project in northern Alberta. The first commercial phase of the Whitesands project will be designed to produce 15,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta’s tar-like deposits, Chief Executive Officer John Wright said in a telephone interview. Output will eventually be expanded to as much as …

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Press Release - 28 November 2007 Massive Canadian oilfield could be exploited using new UK system A new method developed in Britain over the past 17 years for extracting oil is now at the forefront of plans to exploit a massive heavy oilfield in Canada. Duvernay Petroleum is to use the revolutionary Toe-to-Heel Air Injection (THAI™) system developed at the University of Bath at its site at Peace River in Alberta, Canada. Unlike conventional light oil, heavy oil is very viscous, like syrup, or even solid …

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Canadian Oil Sands Trust (“Canadian Oil Sands”) today discusses the impact of Crown royalty changes for oil sands projects announced yesterday by the Alberta government. read full article

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Air injection is officially underway at the first ever field pilot of a technology that proponents say could replace steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) as the production method of choice for unconventional oil in situ. However, although toe to heel air injection (THAI) could hold great promise for the future of Alberta’s oilsands, if successful its potential applications could stretch far beyond the borders of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB). read full article

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Suncor Energy Inc. (SU) and Syncrude Canada Ltd. have individual royalty deals with the government of Alberta, which set the two oil sands giants apart from the rest of the industry read full article

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Canadian Oil Sands Trust (COS) owns 36.74% of Syncrude, Ltd, one of the largest and most developed oil sands operations in Canada. Sycrude has a record of profitability and has already achieved construction of the bulk of its long term capacity goals, including in July an upgrade that increased output capacity by 40% to approximately 350,000 barrels per day, or about 129,000 for COS. A de-bottlenecking upgrade will add another 50,000 b/d to capacity in five years and a final planned expansion will bring production to 500,000 b/d in about …

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Alberta, the New Venezuela. Not.

On Wednesday September 19th, a study commission released a report to the government of Alberta saying that oil and gas companies operating in the province should be taxed about 20% more than currently is the case. The reactions were interesting:
  — Dennis Gartman, a well-followed, commodity sensitive commentator and investor excoriated the announcement in extreme terms and said he was selling all Canadian equities, never to look back (unless, one presumes, the Province rejects the recommended tax increases).
  — Marathon Oil, which has proposed …

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Petrobank Energy and Resources is producing oil using a patented new process called toe to heel air injection (THAI) that’s been developed in a remarkably short time. Read full article

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THAI™ is a evolutionary new combustion process, that combines a vertical air injection well with a horizontal production well. read full article

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A war is looming between Alberta and the federal government over pollution caused by oil sands development that will far surpass any previous federal-provincial battle in its political and economic stakes, former Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed predicted Tuesday. read full article

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