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Teck aims high in oil sands



By Upstream staff 

Teck Cominco plans to build an oil sands presence that could produce 140,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day within 10 years, chief executive Don Lindsay said today.

Speaking at a conference in Toronto, Lindsay said recent land lease acquisitions should eventually bear fruit for the company, which is a top zinc and copper producer with an eye on diversifying to other revenue streams.

"We think we can develop an oil sands business that conceptually could give net to Teck Cominco as much as 140,000 bpd in a 10-year period," he said.

He noted that such production represents about 40% of the estimated 2008 output of energy giant Suncor Energy, a C$42 billion (US$39 billion) company with a market capitalisation more than twice as big as Teck's.

Teck bought a 15% interest in the Fort Hills Energy in 2005. The rest is owned by Petro-Canada and UTS Energy.

"Since then, when no one was looking, we've picked up other land positions, which we are very very excited about," Lindsay said.

Petro-Canada told Reuters last week it plans to announce a long-awaited configuration and cost estimate for the first phase of the Fort Hills project by early July. The cost will likely be more than C$10 billion, the company said.


Wednesday, 13 June, 2007, 20:02 GMT  | last updated: Wednesday, 13 June, 2007, 22:29 GMT

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