China CNOOC says to acquire oil sands developer Opti Canada for $2.1 bil

Chemical News: China CNOOC says to acquire oil sands developer Opti Canada for $2.1 bil

https://www.chemnet.com Jul 21,2011 Platts
China's offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC Ltd said Wednesday that its subsidiary CNOOC Luxembourg has entered an agreement to acquire oil sands developer OPTI Canada for approximately $2.1 billion.

The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year, subject to government and regulatory approvals, CNOOC said in a statement.

OPTI owns a 35% stake in the Long Lake oil sands project, while operator Nexen holds the balance.

The Long Lake project includes a steam assisted gravity drainage operation and an upgrader.

According to CNOOC, the SAGD Operation is expected to have throughput rates of approximately 72,000 b/d of bitumen at full production and the upgrader is expected to produce approximately 58,500 b/d of sweet crude at full capacity.

Last week, OPTI and Nexen said that bitumen production at the end of June was at about 30,000 b/d and production is expected to reach the mid-30,000 b/d level by the year end.

The upgrader at the project during the second quarter processed 98% of the bitumen produced at the project, in addition to 9,200 b/d of externally sourced bitumen, OPTI said last week.

Premium sweet crude yields decreased from 74% during the first quarter to average 70% during the second quarter, the Canadian company said.

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