Peace River Oil Sands Project
The Peace River Oil Sands Project is located in the Peace River Area of North Central Alberta. Seal is tapping a 30 to 80 foot thick deposit of bitumen that is extensive in area with an average depth of 2,000 feet. The unique property of this bitumen deposit is that the 10° API heavy oil can initially be extracted using conventional artificial lift technology. This significantly reduces operating and capital costs, and contrasts with other bitumen deposits that require mining, mineral processing or thermal technologies to produce a product that can be upgraded. Production from the Seal Oil Sands Project incurs a one percent provincial royalty rate pre-payout. The Trust has a large land base in the area, of over 300,000 net acres with 100 percent working interest.
While the Trust intends to utilize “cold” production methods for the initial phases of the project, subsequent phases will utilize thermal production techniques to enhance oil recovery. Going forward, the Trust will adjust the timing of development of this long-term play to take advantage of opportunities for stronger heavy oil prices or the availability of upgrader capacity.
