Numerous large oil sands projects, both mining and in situ have been announced and are being actively pursued to exploit this resource. The well-established North American heavy oil deposits offer world-class exploitation opportunities. MegaWest Energy believes that the need for North American energy self-sufficiency combined with the encouraging outlook for heavy oil demand, strong prices, and easy access to refineries make this an ideal time for the re-optimization of non-conventional heavy oil supplies.
Similar to other maturing resources, primary heavy oil production in the Canadian heavy oil industry has been declining with production levels of around 100,000 bopd. However, encouraged by favorable economic terms and new thermal recovery techniques, production is now rapidly increasing and is over 240,000 bopd. There are 21 approved SAGD projects, 6 approved Cyclic Steam Stimulation (“CSS”) projects and 1 approved in situ combustion project in the Province of Alberta alone. Projections on the future phased developments of these projects indicate that thermal production could reach 1,500,000 bopd by 2013 if investment proceeds as planned.
Large unconventional energy resources that are difficult to produce using today’s standard recovery methods are the focus of MegaWest Energy. These resources represent the key to easing energy supply concerns in the near term and the future. MegaWest Energy has a world-class team to evaluate and exploit its projects using the best-proven or emerging technologies.