It doesn’t appear development is going to proceed anytime soon on the oilsands in northwest Saskatchewan.
This morning, the company that holds the rights to much of those lands held a conference call for media and investors.
Cenovus says it is focused on returning cash to shareholders and it will direct its capital towards developing approved projects over a four-year period.
Jessica Wilkinson is a spokeswoman for the company. She says the company views the Axe Lake discovery project, located north of La Loche, as a natural extension of a similar project at Telephone Lake, Alberta.
Right now, they don’t begin any production at Telephone Lake until 2018 — so it could be a while before anything happens on the Saskatchewan side of the border:
“The Oilsands Quest assets do have the potential to add a lot of value for Telephone Lake, but they’re going to come later. This is a very long project for Cenovus. We’re not under any pressure to develop them immediately, so we’re going to take the necessary time to assess all of the assets within the Oilsands Quest area and see where they fit into our long-term plans for Telephone Lake.”
She adds the approval for the Telephone Lake project is expected to be received by mid-2014.