Shell's Canadian unit loading up on oil sands

[Judi Lynn]

May 8, 2006, 11:55PM
Shell's Canadian unit loading up on oil sands
$2.2 billion deal to buy BlackRock meant to bolster reserves numbers

Bloomberg News

Royal Dutch Shell, struggling to stem declines in its reserves, said Monday its Canadian affiliate will buy BlackRock Ventures for nearly $2.2 billion to lift output in Alberta's oil sands as energy prices surge.

The cash takeover by Shell Canada values Calgary-based BlackRock at $21.70 a share, 27 percent higher than its Friday closing price, The Hague-based Shell said. Shell Canada, also based in Calgary, will get BlackRock's 12,000 to 14,000 barrels of daily heavy-crude production in Alberta.

Royal Dutch Shell, which last week said it may fail to meet its goal of keeping reserves from falling through 2008, is focusing more on unconventional projects such as gas-to-liquids plants and oil sands.

Alberta's oil sands area is estimated to contain the most crude outside the Middle East.
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/3849592.html



Curious to find out how oil sand looks, checked google images:
http://www.protectowire.com/applications/profiles/electric_shovels.htm

[Javaman]

1. I'll be interested to see how they extract the oil without the process

consuming more energy than it will produce?

I guess they have those perpetual motion machines working overtime.