CALGARY�Western Oil Sands Inc., Calgary, which has a 20% interest in a $3.5 billion (Can.) oil sands project, has filed a final prospectus for an initial public offering of $60 million in shares.
The company is a partner in the Athabasca Oil Sands Project, which is expected to produce 150,000 b/d of oil by 2003. Other partners in the venture in the Fort McMurray region of northern Alberta are Shell Canada Ltd., 60%, and Chevron Canada Resources Ltd., 20%.
Western Oil executive David Dyck said progress on the project, now 21 months from completion, and improvement in the oil and gas index on the Toronto Stock Exchange are changes which allowed the company to go public.
Western Oil dropped earlier efforts in January and February to raise $280 million in funding because of lack of interest. It later raised $130 million privately. Western Oil will now offer 4 million shares at $15 each.
The company is headed by Guy Turcotte, a senior oil patch executive who previously founded and headed Chauvco Resources Ltd. and is CEO of Fort Chicago Energy Partners LP, which has a 26% interest in the Alliance Pipeline.
Western Oil was formed in 1999 by former employees of Broken Hill Proprietary Co., after the Australian company withdrew from a 25% interest in the project.