Osum to purchase Orion project from Shell for $325 million (Can.)

June 11, 2014
Osum Oil Sands Corp., Calgary, plans to purchase the Orion oil sands project in Alberta from Shell Canada for $325 million (Can.).

Osum Oil Sands Corp., Calgary, plans to purchase the Orion oil sands project in Alberta from Shell Canada for $325 million (Can.).

The transaction is expected to close at the end of July. Osum will have operatorship and 100% working interest.

Steve Spence, Osum’s president and chief executive officer, said by linking Orion with its nearby Taiga project, the company “has a unique opportunity to build a significant production platform in the Cold Lake region.”

Orion is about 18 km southwest of Taiga, which has received regulatory approval for construction and operation of a 35,000-b/d facility (OGJ Online, Sept. 12, 2012).

Orion has been producing commercially since 2007 using steam-assisted gravity drainage. Production in the first quarter averaged 6,700 b/d of bitumen from 22 well pairs.

Osum is a private oil sands producer established in Alberta in 2005.