Source Press: Oil Sands Projects Steam Ahead in Alberta, Despite Harper.

TORONTO -- The Bush administration last week urged Canada's natural resources agency to increase oil sands production in the Alberta province five-fold to 5 million barrels per day, but a spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper said "not at the expense of the environment." Meanwhile, while Harper turns his back on Alberta, oil companies are steaming ahead with plans of their own to develop the world's largest oil reserve.

Yet, according to the minutes of the Houston meeting, to multiply its output by five and to do it quickly, Canada would have to streamline its environmental regulations for new energy projects. The Tories say that's not about to happen, not at the expense of the environment.

This week, Patch International, Inc. (OTCBB:PTCH) announced that DeGolyer and MacNaughton completed their independent resource reserve report on the Company's Dover and Firebag oil sands properties which showed probable reserves of 154 million barrels of oil and another 381 million possible. While that may make you yawn, the fact that Patch got its hands on high-value oil sands leases in the middle of the two major plays is something to crow about. Surrounding Patch is the "who's who" of Canadian oil sands operators - Chevron, Suncor and Petro-Canada.

Patch's Dover oil sands project consists of 20,480 acres with 96 million barrels of probable reserves and 264 possible. While that may sound like a large piece of property, Petro-Canada (TSX:PCA) owns several townships and is producing 25,000 barrels per day through a Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage, or SAGD, recovery system, making Patch's property seem minute. Petro-Canada has not disclosed its reserves, though with such a vast stretch of property, it will be years before test wells can be drilled. Patch is moving to drill 16 wells and conduct 63 square miles of 2D seismic tests in the first quarter of this year.

West of Patch's Dover property is Chevron (NYSE:CVX) with 100 new well licenses and its Ells R property slated to begin producing 100,000bpd in 2015.

In the Firebag region, Patch holds 58 million probable barrels of oil and 117 million possible. Its Firebag property consists of 11,520 acres. The company plans on drilling 12 wells and conducting 47 square miles of 2D seismic shots. Drilling is expected to commence shortly. The big player in the Firebag property is Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU), with 9.2 billion barrels of reserves, though like Petro-Canada, its holdings are more then ten-fold in size when compared to Patch. Suncor is operating a 40,000bpd SAGD oil recovery system and plans to up that production to 575,000bpd. To North is EnCana Corp. (TSX:ECA) with its EnCana Borealis project estimated to produce 100,000bpd.

Patch has laid itself out to be the largest junior oil company in the Alberta oil sands region and captured top talent in luring Mr. Terry Buchanan away from Superior Oil, ExxonMobil's Canadian division, where Buchanan spent the last 24-years as Superior's Geo Science Advisor. When asked why Buchanan left a key management role in a major oil company to join a little-known junior, he told Source Press U.S. news affiliate, AXcess News, that it was the properties Patch acquired as well as the fact that the company had a well-laid out plan of operations. "You just don't see that kind of opportunity come around that often," said Buchanan.

So while Harper's government says the environment must be preserved, companies big and small are full steam ahead in their own development plans and three pipelines are also in various stages of development to move that oil to market; two will serve the U.S. while a third is planned for export to China.

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