Ivanhoe to acquire oil sands assets

Robert Friedland, Deputy Chairman of Ivanhoe Energy Inc., announced today that the company has signed a preliminary agreement with Talisman Energy Canada (Talisman) to acquire all of Talisman’s interests in three leases located in the heart of the Athabasca oil sands region in the Province of Alberta, Canada.

The total purchase price is C$105 million, of which C$30 million is payable at closing. The transaction will see the first commercial application of Ivanhoe Energy’s proprietary HTL(TM) heavy-oil upgrading technology in a major, integrated heavy-oil project.

Based on the most recent evaluations of the Talisman leases conducted by Sproule Associates Limited (Sproule), independent reservoir engineers, two of the three leases are estimated to contain, on a best estimate basis, approximately 294 million barrels of contingent bitumen resources (with low and high estimates of approximately 216 million and 394 million barrels, respectively) out of approximately 752 million barrels of discovered petroleum initially-in-place.

The proposed home for Ivanhoe Energy’s initial, integrated HTL heavy-oil project will be Lease 10, near Fort McMurray. Based on estimates by Sproule of contingent bitumen resources, Lease 10 - the principal block being acquired - would be capable of producing between 30,000 and 50,000 barrels of oil per day.

Source : http://www.ivanhoe-energy.com/