By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, May 16 -- Osum Oil Sands Corp. acquired 32,640 acres of oil sands leases in the Saleski Grosmont carbonate region of northern Alberta. The new leases are contiguous to Osum's existing carbonate holdings complementing the previous 100% owned Saleski acreage and the company's joint venture acreage.
Shell Canada Ltd. was the reported seller, according to various media sources.
Osum will refer to the new lease area as Saleski West and will refer to its previous Saleski 100% acreage as Saleski East.
An independent reservoir evaluator has assigned 870 million bbl of best estimate contingent resources (P50) to Saleski West, which includes Grosmont C and D horizons and Ireton. This increases by 36% Osum's best estimate contingent resources, bringing the corporate total to 3,258 million bbl, plus 360 million bbl of proved plus probable (2P) reserves, Osum said.
Osum noted that the contingent resources at Saleski West could support total production of 80,000 b/d which increases Osum's total long-term sustained production potential from its reserve and resource base by 30% to 350,000 b/d.
A steam-assisted gravity drainage project on the Saleski JV acreage started in December 2010. Laricina Energy Ltd. is the operator of the pilot and holds a 60% interest in the property. Osum holds the remaining 40% (OGJ, Dec. 21, 2009, Newsletter).
Osum is continuing to delineate its 100% owned Saleski East acreage and last winter completed a 19 well core program.
