Canadian Oil Sands Limited was a Canadian company that generates income from its

oil sands Oil sands, tar sands, crude bitumen, or bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. Oil sands are either loose sands or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and wate ...

investment in the

Syncrude Syncrude Canada Ltd. is one of the world's largest producers of synthetic crude oil from oil sands and the largest single source producer in Canada. It is located just outside Fort McMurray in the Athabasca Oil Sands, and has a nameplate capaci ...

Joint Venture. Syncrude operated an oil sands facility and produced crude oil through the mining of oil sands from ore deposits in the

Athabasca Athabasca (also Athabaska) is an anglicized version of the Cree name for Lake Athabasca in Canada, āthap-āsk-ā-w (pronounced ), meaning "grass or reeds here and there". Most places named Athabasca are found in Alberta, Canada. Athabasca may a ...

region of northern

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. In 2016, Suncor Energy purchased all of the shares of Canadian Oil Sands Limited.

History

In 1978, Syncrude produced its first barrel of oil.

PanCanadian Petroleum PanCanadian Petroleum Limited was a Canadian independent petroleum company that operated between 1971 and 2002. The company was created through the merger of Canadian Pacific Oil and Gas Limited and Central-Del Rio Oils Limited. PanCanadian inher ...

(later Encana, now

Ovintiv Ovintiv Inc. is a hydrocarbon exploration and production company organized in Delaware and headquartered in Denver, United States. It was founded and headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, under its previous name Encana. It was the largest energy co ...

) formed Canadian Oil Sands Trust in 1995 with a 10% interest in Syncrude. The following year, Gulf Canada formed Athabasca Oil Sands Trust with an 11.74% interest in Syncrude. Canadian Oil Sands Trust and Athabasca Oil Sands Trust merged in 2001, continuing as Canadian Oil Sands Trust. Canadian Oil Sands Trust increased its interest in Syncrude to 35.5% in 2003. A further purchase of a 1.25% incremental interest brought the trust's interest in Syncrude to its current level of 36.74%.Canadian Oil Sands Corporate History
/ref> Other investors with a significant shareholding in Syncrude are Suncor Energy Inc., Imperial Oil Ltd., and two major Chinese oil outfits.G+M 30 Oct 2013: "Canadian Oil Sands again cuts Syncrude’s output forecast"
/ref> The trust is reliant on Syncrude for its income, while its partners have other investments. In 2011, Canadian Oil Sands Trust converted from a

royalty trust A royalty trust is a type of corporation, mostly in the United States or Canada, usually involved in oil and gas production or mining. However, unlike most corporations, its profits are not taxed at the corporate level provided a certain high perc ...

to a corporation, becoming Canadian Oil Sands Limited. In October 2015, the company was subject to a hostile takeover bid from

Suncor Energy Suncor Energy (french: Suncor Énergie) is a Canadian integrated energy company based in Calgary, Alberta. It specializes in production of synthetic crude from oil sands. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, Suncor Energy was ranked as the 48th-lar ...

, worth around $3.29 billion. The bid followed rejected advances earlier in the year in March and April. On March 21, 2016

completed acquisition of Canadian Oil Sands with the support of the Boards of Directors of both companies. The total aggregate transaction value was approximately $6.6 billion including company's estimated debt of $2.4 billion Their former website now redirects to Suncor Energy's site.

Operations

Canadian Oil Sands' primary business operation was through its 36.74 per cent interest in Syncrude. The company also held some arctic natural gas interests through a wholly owned subsidiary, Canadian Arctic Gas Limited. The corporate head office was located in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

References

External links

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SEDAR company profile
{{Portal, Companies Companies based in Calgary Energy companies established in 1978 Oil companies of Canada Non-renewable resource companies established in 1978 2016 mergers and acquisitions