Oil Sands NEWS

PetroChina may sell out from natural gas projects in Australia and oil sands in Canada to stem losses and divert funds to more lucrative sites in the Middle East, Africa and central Asia, two people with knowledge of the matter said. PetroChina's plan follows a similar strategic shift by smaller state peer CNOOC Ltd (0883.HK), which was preparing to exit its operations in Britain, Canada and the United States because of concerns the assets could become subject to Western sanctions.

Canadian oil sands producer, MEG Energy Corp’s quarterly profits trumped estimates on Tuesday, climbing on the back of ramped up production and higher prices. MEG Energy saw a 36.4% jump in the production of low-grade bitumen crude, to 97,288 barrels per day (bpd) in the second quarter. Net loss for the firm narrowed to C$64 million from C$179 million in the previous year.

Kick starting an investment driven oil-sands project, Fort Hills, Suncor Energy’s oil-sands mine had its formal opening on Monday. Clearing dense forest and dumping oily soils in giant trucks and processing it into heavy crude for U.S. refineries has made industry people hopeful. According to analysts, an era of big projects in the freezing wilderness of Canada will see a new dawn through minimized carbon emissions, combined with lower costs.

Unless Syncrude oil-sand operations come back online, Canadian crude supplies will stay a little off track this week. Suncor has said that the maintenance of pipeline shipments facility has been accelerated to alleviate the impact of the same. The crisis at Syncrude facility, which can produce 350,000 bbld has come at a time when Venezuela’s downfall, tensions in Libya and US sanctions on Iran are already pushing up prices.

The oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to sell its Canadian Natural Resources (one of its dirtiest assets), oil sands producer, stake for $3.3 billion. CEO Ben van Beurden has repositioned Shell to focus on cleaner natural gas, shedding carbon-intensive assets such as oil sands.