Albian Sands

Albian Sands Energy Inc. is the operator of the Muskeg River Mine located 75 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. Albian Sands mines for oil in the oil sands of northern Alberta. In oil sands mining, a mix of oil and sand is removed from just below the surface using shovels and trucks. This material is mixed with warm water to separate the oil from the sand.

Albian Sands At full production, the Muskeg River Mine produces 155,000 barrels per day (bpd) of bitumen, a naturally occurring thick oil comprised mainly of hydrocarbons, for the Athabasca Oil Sands Project. Our product, diluted bitumen, will be upgraded at the Scotford Upgrader in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta and provide refiners with transport fuel feedstock.

Albian Sands Energy Inc. operates the Muskeg River Mine. The Muskeg River Mine and the Scotford Upgrader together comprise the Athabasca Oil Sands Project - a joint venture of Shell Canada Limited, Chevron Canada Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary of ChevronTexaco Corp.) and Western Oil Sands Inc. The amount of oil and oil related products produced by the Athabasca Oil Sand Project could fill one in three cars in Alberta. It will supply 10 percent of Canada's oil needs.

The Muskeg River Mine stands on Shell Canada Limited's Lease 13. The combined resource of the Muskeg River Mine and Lease 13 contains more than five billion barrels of mineable bitumen. This is about equal to twice the amount of conventional oil reserves remaining in Alberta. The oil sands deposit is close to the surface and contains a high concentration of oil, making it ideally suited to mining. The Muskeg River Mine will recover 1.65 billion barrels of bitumen over 30 years.

Albian Sands Energy Inc. garnered its name from the Albian Boreal Sea which molded the landscape we have come to know as Northern Alberta. Over 100 million years ago, as the Albian Sea moved over the McMurray sands, a blanket of marine shale was deposited on its floor and trapped the hydrocarbons of the McMurray Formation. The resource of the Muskeg River Mine is a legacy of the Albian Sea. We thought it fitting that the company that brings these ancient sands to the light of day should bear this name.