The five first nations in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan are looking forward to the implementation of an agreement they sealed with state-owned oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) to jointly explore oil sands in Canada, a Saskatchewan newspaper reported on Thursday.
CPC sealed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Saskatchewan-based Indian Oilsands in Taipei on July 17 to pave the way for a possible partnership on oil sands development in the central Canadian province, the Saskatoon-based Star Phoenix said.
At a press conference held on Wednesday in Saskatoon, Lawrence Joseph, chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, said that he and Ken Thomas, a consultant to Indian Oilsands, and chiefs of other first nations in the province visited Taiwan last week to strike the MOU with CPC, Taiwan’s biggest oil refiner and distributor.
Joseph said the first nations of Saskatchewan are grasping the opportunity, potentially worth C$800 million (US$789 million), to “create a win-win” situation for both Taiwan and the Canadian first nations, the Star Phoenix said.
“The joint venture is exactly the road we first nations should take,” Joseph said.
He said that the Saskatchewan first nations are tired of nibbling on “leftovers” discarded by provincial and federal governments and have now begun to seek business opportunities overseas on their own in an attempt to gain economic independence.
He said that during their Taiwan visit, they also reached an agreement with another Taiwanese company on an investment of C$37 million to build a large hog-raising farm in the Beardy’s & Okemasis First Nation in Saskatchewan Province, the report said.
Oil sands are naturally occurring mixtures of sand or clay, water and an extremely dense and viscous form of petroleum called bitumen, which can be extracted and upgraded to usable products.
Canada has the world’s largest oil sands deposits, with at least 315 billion barrels available.
Canada is the only country in the world that commercializes bitumen production and is the world’s most important supplier of non-conventional oil, producing more than 1 million barrels per day.
At present, oil sands deposits are being commercially extracted in Alberta Province, while neighboring Saskatchewan Province, where deposits are estimated at 10 billion barrels, is still in the exploration stage.
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