Calgary – Strata Oil & Gas Inc (SOIGF-OTCBB) today announced its corporate objectives and exploration focus for the coming twelve month period.
"Our goal is to provide exceptional shareholder returns in a rising petroleum market," says Manny Dhinsa, President. "Our focus is to provide greater exposure to petroleum prices by maximizing our in-place resource per common share and minimizing shareholder dilution, looking exclusively to projects within North America as a means to minimize risk. Our emphasis is on full-cycle exploration --- we believe that we can have a greater impact by developing our own exploration projects rather than acquiring advanced projects from others."
Strata Oil & Gas is focused on the exploration and development of heavy oil / oil sands in Western Canada. Heavy oil and oil sands are very viscous and do not flow easily, and are primarily found in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin which extends from the Yukon and Northwest Territories, through northeastern British Columbia, Alberta and central Saskatchewan.
Alberta's oil sands reserves represent approximately 54,363 square miles, and cover 4 main regions Athabasca/Wabasca, Cold Lake, and Peace River. The total estimated in-place resource for heavy oil / oil sands in Canada is approximately 2.5 trillion barrels, making it the largest known petroleum resource in the world.
Strata Oil & Gas has acquired the rights to oil sands under 1280 acres of land in Alberta in the Drowned area of the Wabasca oil sands, which are estimated to contain in excess of 94 billion barrels of oil (Alberta Department of Energy, Cold Heavy Oil Production With Sand In The Canadian Heavy Oil Industry, Dr. Maurice Dusseault, March 2002).
"The oil sands in the Wabasca area are in a thin pool, but spread out over a large area, like a vast but shallow underground lake of oil," says Mr. Dhinsa.
On Strata's project, four wells were drilled over the lease for gas exploration by P&NG lease holders, one of which is currently producing from the Grand Rapids formation. The logs demonstrate the presence of bitumen in all four wells, one of which shows several meters of oil sands beneath a cemented zone at the top of the McMurray Formation in the Wabiskaw Member at an approximate depth of 550 to 600 meters. Bitumen accumulations are also present in the underlying McMurray Formation as well as several intervals of bitumen (up to 6 meters in thickness) in the overlying Grand Rapids Formation (at a depth of approximately 425 to 500 meters).
"We will be looking for opportunities to expand our property portfolio over the coming months," says Mr. Dhinsa. "Specifically, we expect to be reviewing various privately-held oil sands properties in Western Canada, as well as the public oil sands offerings in the upcoming Alberta Crown land sales in the month of October which we expect to participate in. We are examining opportunities throughout the region and expect to be making progress further to this over the coming quarter."
Strata Oil & Gas is a trademark of Strata Oil & Gas Inc. This announcement may contain forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, limited operating history, risks related to petroleum exploration, limited access to operating capital, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. As an oil and gas company, in its filings with the SEC the Company only discloses proved reserves that have been demonstrated by actual production or conclusive formation tests to be economically and legally producible under existing economic and operating conditions. However, in the information presented here, certain terms may be used such as "probable reserves", "potential net recoverable reserves", "barrels of oil", "in-place", "resource", and "recoverable reserves." More information is included in Strata's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission which may be accessed through the SEC's web site at http://www.sec.gov.
Contact:
Terry Uppal, Investor Relations
Toll-free 1-800-488-0032