MEG Energy receives regulatory approval for Christina Lake Phase 3 oil sands project

Tuesday, Feb 14, 2012

CALGARY, Feb. 13, 2012 /CNW/ - MEG Energy Corp. reports that it now has regulatory authorization to proceed with its Christina Lake Phase 3 Project, following approvals issued by Alberta Environment and Water and the previous approval on January 31, 2012 by Alberta's Energy Resources Conservation Board.

Engineering work on the 150,000 barrel per day project is currently underway, including a planned $60 million investment this year to assess optimum sizing and timing for the initial phase of the multistage project.

"With today's announcement, we now have approvals in place for 210,000 barrels per day of design production capacity at Christina Lake," said Bill McCaffrey, MEG President and Chief Executive Officer. "This is just another step in our strategy to increase production capacity tenfold by 2020."

Phase 3 is a multi-stage expansion of MEG's current Christina Lake Phases 1 and 2. Like previous phases, Phase 3 will use steam assisted gravity drainage, a thermal recovery technology that limits surface land disturbance and recycles approximately 90% of the water used in the process.

"Our employees, investors and community stakeholders will see a consistent approach to Phase 3," said McCaffrey. "In terms of the reservoir, we see characteristics similar to our current producing areas. In terms of project execution, we'll continue to focus on carefully staged capital investment and ongoing efforts to minimize environmental impacts in the region. Our work with regional stakeholders will continue through the full development process."

Project cost estimates for the first stage, Phase 3A, will be provided to MEG's Board of Directors for final sanctioning once engineering is sufficiently advanced.

MEG Energy Corp. is focused on sustainable in situ oil sands development and production in the southern Athabasca region of Alberta, Canada. MEG is actively developing enhanced oil recovery projects that utilize SAGD extraction methods. MEG's common shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "MEG."

SOURCE MEG Energy Corp.

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