CALGARY, Aug. 14, 2014 /CNW/ - US Oil Sands Inc.
("US Oil Sands" or the "Company") (TSXV: USO), a
company focused on oil sands exploration and production in
Utah today announced that it has
filed its unaudited interim financial statements ("Interim
Report") for the three month period ended June 30, 2014 ("Q2 2014") along with the
management discussion and analysis ("MD&A") of the
financial results of US Oil Sands for such period.
A copy of the aforementioned documents may be found for viewing
on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval
website at www.sedar.com as well as US Oil Sands' website at
www.usoilsandsinc.com.
SELECTED QUARTERLY HIGHLIGHTS
Since April 1, 2014, the
Company:
- Announced that the Board of Directors approved the Final
Investment Decision to proceed with construction of an enhanced
Phase 1 Project at its PR Spring location in Utah;
- Issued purchase orders for substantially all of the ore
handling equipment and initiated the procurement of long delivery
equipment for the PR Spring Project;
- Received approval of its U.S. patent application for its
bitumen extraction process, which complements the issuance of the
Canadian patent granted in 2012;
- Announced that the Utah Supreme Court dismissed the only
outstanding regulatory challenge made against the Company's PR
Spring Project; and
- Appointed Mark H. Brown to the
Company's Board of Directors.
"Since our Board of Directors' approval to proceed with
construction of US Oil Sands' enhanced PR Spring Project, we have
made considerable progress, particularly with the procurement of
most of the required ore handling equipment," said Cameron Todd, CEO of US Oil Sands. "As
long-lead equipment procurement continues, we are working
diligently to finalize detailed engineering, site preparation,
utilities tie-in and fieldwork such that we remain on-track to
commence installation and commissioning in the second and third
quarters of next year."
OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
During the second quarter of 2014, the Company's project team
continued to work with its engineering contractors and equipment
suppliers to finalize engineering and procure supplies for the PR
Spring Project. Having issued purchase orders for substantially all
of the ore handling equipment, US Oil Sands will continue placing
orders for other major equipment over the next few months. The
Company is targeting installation in mid-2015 with commissioning to
follow.
The Company commenced field work and made progress on plant-site
grading; utility supply infrastructure; and roadways and water
supply pipeline construction. Detailed pit sequencing and mine
logistics continued to advance. The Company has hired several key
personnel located in Canada and in
Utah to support the PR Spring
Project.
EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT ADDITION
Effective September 2, 2014, US
Oil Sands will welcome the addition of Ed
Koshka as Vice President, Business Development &
Marketing. Mr. Koshka has 28 years of business development and
crude oil marketing experience in the oil & gas industry, the
last 10 of which has been focused specifically on applying
technology innovation to oil sands development. Prior
thereto, Mr. Koshka was a Principal Consultant at Purvin &
Gertz, Inc. following a 13 year career at Petro-Canada in various
downstream roles. Mr. Koshka is a Professional Engineer, has a
degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alberta and an MBA from the
University of Calgary.
Mr. Koshka will be focused on developing oil sands opportunities
utilizing US Oil Sands' proprietary bitumen extraction process in
the Athabasca oil sands region and
in other worldwide jurisdictions where his previous experience
developing three unique oil sands projects will be
invaluable. From a crude marketing perspective, project
values can be enhanced by selling production into the most
beneficial markets and Mr. Koshka will apply his considerable
downstream expertise, initially to the Company's near-term PR
Spring Project, to capture that value.
"Mr. Koshka has been consulting with US Oil Sands on business
development initiatives in Canada
for a number of months now and we're delighted that he's accepted
an elevated role within the Company," said Cameron Todd. "His experience is aptly
suited to furthering US Oil Sands' goal of implementing our
revolutionary bitumen extraction process in Canada and maximizing market value for our
forthcoming oil production."
OUTLOOK
For the remainder of 2014, the Company will continue to focus on
the PR Spring Project Phase 1 of engineering and mine design,
placement of orders for long-lead equipment and refinement of
equipment component selection for all other equipment. General site
preparation is expected to be completed in 2014. Management
anticipates that the off-site fabrication of the process extraction
plant will be partially complete in 2014, with final off-site
fabrication and field assembly occurring in mid-2015, followed by
commissioning and commercial start-up.
To ensure a ready inventory of future mineable assets for the
Company, management intends to continue to pursue opportunities to
add additional resource lands by assessing growth prospects and
furthering regulatory application efforts.
ABOUT US OIL SANDS LTD.
US Oil Sands is engaged in the exploration and development of
oil sands properties and, through its wholly owned United States subsidiary US Oil Sands
(Utah) Inc., has a 100% interest
in bitumen leases covering 32,005 acres of land in Utah's Uinta Basin. The Company plans to
develop its oil sands properties using its proprietary extraction
process which uses a bio-solvent to extract bitumen from oil sands
without the need for tailings ponds. The Company is in the
pre-production stage, anticipating the commencement of bitumen
production and sales in 2015.
The foregoing information contains forward-looking information
relating to the future performance of the Company including
information relating to the development and construction of the PR
Spring Project, mine planning, commencement of commercial
production and corporate development activities. Forward looking
information is subject to a number of known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to
differ materially from those anticipated in our forward looking
statements. Such risks and other factors include, among others, the
actual results of exploration activities, changes in world
commodity markets or equity markets, the risks of the petroleum
industry including, without limitation, those associated with the
environment, delays in obtaining governmental approvals, permits or
financing or in the completion of development or construction
activities, title disputes, change in government and changes to
regulations affecting the oil and gas industry, and other risks and
uncertainties detailed from time to time in the Company's filings
with the Canadian securities administrators (available at
www.SEDAR.com). Forward-looking statements are made based on
various assumptions and on management's beliefs, estimates and
opinions on the date the statements are made. Should one or more of
these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying
assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially
from those described in the forward-looking information contained
herein. The Company undertakes no obligation to update
forward-looking statements if these assumptions, beliefs, estimates
and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as
required by applicable law.
Discovered bitumen resources or discovered bitumen
initially-in-place is that quantity of bitumen that is estimated,
as of a given date, to be contained in known accumulations on
Company lands prior to production. Best estimate is considered to
be the best estimate of the quantity that will actually be
in-place. It is equally likely that the actual remaining
quantities in-place will be greater or less than the best estimate.
There is no certainty that it will be commercially viable to
produce any portion of the resources. Additional information
relating to resource estimates is contained in the Company's
Statement of Resources Data and Other Oil and Gas Information for
the year ended December 31, 2013
dated April 2, 2014 and available on
SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release.
SOURCE US Oil Sands Inc.