UTS Energy drills oil sands in six wells at lease 421
2009-02-06 08:15 ET - News Release
Dr. William Roach reports
UTS ANNOUNCES NEW DRILLING RESULTS FROM THE FIREBAG AREA
UTS Energy Corp. has provided new drilling results from leases 421, 022 and 023 (the lease 421 area) located east of the Firebag River in northeastern Alberta. These leases are owned jointly with Teck Cominco on a 50:50 basis. Eight core holes have been drilled this winter, of which six have encountered oil sands within the McMurray formation. This is the second year of drilling in lease 421 area for UTS and Teck, having previously encountered high-grade oil sands during the 2008 drilling program.
"We continue to receive very encouraging results from this area," said William Roach, president and chief executive officer. "We have now drilled a total of 13 core holes over the last two years and encountered high-grade oil sands in 11 of these, with oil sands thickness estimates of between 10 metres and 25 metres, and overburden thicknesses ranging from 23 metres to 68 metres. We are continuing our delineation program in this area and anticipate drilling approximately 55 core holes in total during the first quarter of 2009.
Upon completion of this drilling program, we expect to have sufficient data to determine if the potential exists for a fourth UTS oil sands project, with the results of these analyses available by year-end. Assets such as our Firebag oil sands leases provide tremendous growth opportunities as well as future funding flexibility for UTS.
"Although it is early days in the 2009 drilling program, the results to date (the majority being from core holes drilled close to each of the lease 421 lease boundaries) are indicative of a laterally extensive resource and the potential for another significant oil sands discovery," said Dr. Roach.
"It is also noteworthy that this discovery is directly northeast of the Total-operated Northern Lights project leases, which if combined may render a sufficient resource base for a stand-alone development."
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