Athabasca to acquire Statoil Canada’s oil sands business

Athabasca Oil Corp. has agreed to buy the oil sands business of Statoil Canada Ltd.

The transaction covers Statoil’s 100% interest in the Leismer demonstration plant, the undeveloped Corner project, related infrastructure, and several midstream contracts associated with Leismer’s 24,000 b/d of production.

The Leismer steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) demonstration project is about 120 km south of Fort McMurray, Alta. First bitumen production was achieved 6 years ago (OGJ Online, Jan. 27, 2011).

The transaction includes $435 million (Can.) in cash, 100 million common shares of Athabasca, and contingent value payments up to $250 million (Can.) triggered at oil prices above $65 (US)/bbl for West Texas Intermediate.

Statoil ASA said total consideration is up to $832 million (Can.).

With the common shares, Statoil will have just below 20% of Athabasca.

Athabasca said the related infrastructure includes ownership of dilbit and diluents pipelines from Leismer to Cheecham terminal, 300,000 bbl of storage capacity at Cheecham, and access to multiple sales points.

Statoil said the sale allows the company to redeploy proceeds to its “global portfolio of opportunities.”

The sale’s effective date is Jan. 1.

Statoil acquired the oil sands assets through the purchase of North American Oil Sands Corp. in 2007.