Teck Resources exchanges oil sands assets with Shell Canada

7th June 2013 By: Henry Lazenby - Creamer Media Deputy Editor: North America

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canada’s largest diversified miner Teck Resources on Friday said it has exchanged certain of its oil sands leases related to its Frontier oil sands project, in the Athabasca oil sands region of north-eastern Alberta, for leases held by petroleum company Shell Canada Energy to reduce the lease boundary interfaces between the Frontier project and Shell's Pierre River mine.

Under the exchange, Teck transferred oil sands rights and other miscellaneous interests associated with Lease 14 to Shell, and Shell transferred to Teck the oil sands rights and other miscellaneous interests associated with Leases 309, 310, 351, 475, 476, 607, 608, 609 and the north-eastern portion of Lease 352.

Teck said the asset exchange was expected to benefit the economic recovery of oil sands for the parties' respective projects.

The leases Teck acquired in the exchange generally lie east of its Frontier project area and form a continuous series of leases with the Frontier leases. Despite the resource estimate for the Frontier project not yet being updated, Teck expected the asset exchange would have a net positive effect on project resources.

The asset exchange and project agreements entered into by the companies were expected to resolve issues identified in Teck's statement of objection with regard to Shell's Pierre River mine regulatory application, filed with the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board, and Shell's statement of concern regarding Teck's Frontier project regulatory application, filed with the same regulators.

Under the projects agreements, Teck and Shell would work to reduce certain impacts of their projects on the other's project and on the environment, while increasing the economic recovery of oil sands along common boundaries and improving the respective projects' efficiency.