Grizzly Oil Sands ULC said an independent analysis has identified 1.8 billion bbl of exploitable bitumen in place at the May River oil sands property in northern Alberta it has acquired from Petrobank Energy & Resources Ltd. Both companies are based in Calgary (OGJ Online, Feb. 1, 2012).

Privately owned Grizzly reported the assessment, by GLJ Petroleum Consultants Ltd., at the closing of the $225 million (Can.) cash deal.

GLJ assigned 824 million bbl of contingent resource as a best estimate based on the modular steam-assisted gravity drainage scheme Grizzly plans to use. GLJ’s development profile shows gross production of 100,000 b/d, Grizzly said.