Shell prepared to spend billions on oil sands

Shell Canada Ltd. is looking at a “multibillion” dollar project to develop a comparatively obscure deposit of oil sands in the Peace River area of northwestern Alberta that could produce 100,000 barrels of bitumen a day for 30 years.

“We could spend a significant amount,” Ian Kilgour, senior vice-president of exploration and production, told reporters after speaking at the Peters & Co. Ltd. oil and gas conference in Toronto yesterday.