Statoil To Acquire North American Oil Sands For C$2 Billion

Statoil ASA, Stavanger, Norway, (Oslo: STL; NYSE: STO) plans to acquire privately held North American Oil Sands Corp., Calgary, for C$20 per share in a deal valued at approximately C$2.2 billion (US$2 billion). North American's assets include 257,200 acres (1,110 square kilometers) of oil sands leases in the Athabasca region of Alberta. The company plans to start the Leismer in-situ bitumen extraction project near Conklin in northern Alberta and the Kai Kos Dehseh upgrading facility in northeast Alberta by 2011. When the project is completed, North American expects it to produce more than 200,000 barrels per day of bitumen using steam-assisted gravity-drainage technology. Recoverable reserves are approximately 2.2 billion barrels from lease holds.