2009-08-11-2008-01-01

To buy 50% WI in Sunrise Field in Athabasca oil sands 60 km. NE of Fort McMurray, gaining 42,000 acres with 9 billion barrels estimated.

BP Plc, London, (NYSE: BP) plans to acquire a 50% interest in Sunrise Field in the Athabasca oil sands in northeastern Alberta from Husky Energy, Calgary (Toronto: HSE). In turn, Husky will acquire a 50% interest in BP's Toledo, Ohio, refinery. The companies will develop two independent joint ventures to develop each business. Sunrise Field is 60 kilometers northeast of Fort McMurray, Alberta, adjacent to Imperial Oil's Kearl Lake project and Suncor's Firebag development. The leases include approximately 42,000 acres and are estimated to contain approximately 9 billion barrels. Husky estimated the Sunrise oil-sand reserves on Dec. 31, 2006, to be 3.2 billion barrels (1 billion barrels probable and 2.2 billion barrels possible). Sunrise is expected to be sanctioned in 2008 with first production of bitumen in 2012, building to 200,000 barrels of oil per day by the end of the decade. Sunrise will be developed using steam-assisted gravity drainage technology. The Sunrise oil-sands partnership will begin with a three-phase development targeting production of the first phase of 60,000 barrels per day in 2012. Joint investment up to 2012 is estimated to be US$3 billion. BP group chief executive Tony Hayward says, "Toledo and Sunrise are excellent assets. BP's move into oil sands is an opportunity to build a strategic, material position and the huge potential of Sunrise is the ideal entry point for BP into Canadian oil sands." BMO Capital Markets was advisor to BP. The deal is expected to close in first-quarter 2008. The effective date is Jan. 1.