Shell Shocks the Oil Sands

The headline-grabber up north was that Royal Dutch had paid $465 million Canadian (about $400 million U.S.) for leases on 10 parcels of land in an area known as the Grosmont formation. The size of the deal is impressive and makes for one of the largest lease sales in recent history. Furthermore, Royal Dutch is making this investment through its subsidiary Shell Exploration & Production in the Americas, not through Shell Canada.

The industry is somewhat baffled by the investment, because the Grosmont formation is an almost untouched area of oil sands, with no proven technology to develop the resource. This is a big bet — but it’s one that has left the players in the oil patch scratching their heads.
Motley Fool