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Husky Energy

Husky Energy Inc. is a large integrated energy company based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in Western Canadian Place. Primarily focusing on petroleum and natural gas, Husky employs over 3800 people (as of 2006), has almost $18 billion in assets, and produces an average of of oil equivalent per day (projected average low end for 2008), making it one of Canada's largest energy companies. Aside from the Husky brand, Mohawk Gasoline is the next primary brand used. It conducts operations primarily in the United States, Canada, and China. A majority stake in Husky Energy is owned by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing and his holding company Hutchison Whampoa.

Assets and holdings

Husky Energy has proven petroleum reserves of and of natural gas, most of it in western Canada. It owns approximately 500 filling stations in Canada and operates the Lloydminster Heavy Oil Upgrader. Husky holds property and/or mineral rights to some 6.67 million acres (27,000 km²) in western Canada.

The corporation also owns some 425,000 acres (1,720 km²) in the Athabasca, Peace River, and Cold Lake regions of western Canada, which the company claims hold some of bitumen.

Husky holds extensive offshore properties. It is the operator of the White Rose project and partner in the Terra Nova project in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin off Newfoundland The company also owns a 40% interest in the Wenchang project, which expects to derive as much as of oil from a field located near the mouth of the Pearl River. The remaining sixty percent of the project is owned by the Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). Interests have also been acquired in two fields located off the coast of Madura, Indonesia.

In terms of refined products facilities, Husky owns and operates light oil refineries at Prince George, British Columbia and Lima, Ohio; an asphalt refinery at Lloydminster, Alberta/Saskatchewan; an ethanol plant at Lloydminster; and another at Minnedosa, Manitoba.

A substantial portion of Husky's property and operations base comes from its acquisition of Renaissance Energy. In 2003 it also purchased the Canadian unit of the American-based Marathon Oil Corporation.

Corporate History

Now a publicly traded Canadian company with global interests, Husky Energy was originally founded in 1938 in Cody, Wyoming, United States, as the Husky Refining Company. The first refinery was built in Cody, with a second constructed later in Riverton, Wyoming. In 1946 the Riverton refinery was moved to Lloydminster, Alberta, Canada, to take advantage of the expanding asphalt and heavy oil opportunities in the area. A wholly owned subsidiary, Husky Oil and Refining Ltd., was created and headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Cody refinery continued operations well into the 1970s, producing primarily asphalt. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, there were periodic rumors floating around Cody that the refinery would be reopened by a variety of different companies. One of the more persistent rumors was the impending purchase and reactivation of the refinery by Flying J. This never happened, however, and the entire refinery was finally razed in the late 1990s.

Operations

Husky Energy's operations are divided into three categories: Upstream, Midstream, and Refined Products.

The Upstream division focuses on oil and gas exploration and extraction. The division's primary projects include mineral extraction from oil sands, and offshore drilling at the White Rose and Wenchang sites.

Because some 80% of Alberta's oil sands are too far below the surface for standard mining and drilling precedures to access, Husky plans to use "steam assisted gravity drainage technology", by which bitumen will be raised closer to the surface through high temperatures. After the bitumen is recovered, it will be subjected to a process by which useful oil will be extracted. The company's Tucker Thermal Project is expected to begin producing in late 2006 and over 35 years it is estimated it will recover some of bitumen. A second endeavor, the Sunrise Thermal Project, may produce .

Costing 2.35 billion Canadian dollars and starting operation in November 2005, the White Rose project (located off Newfoundland) is anticipated to recover over of oil. Another offshore project, Wenchang, located off China's Pearl River and run jointly with the CNOOC produced an average of in 2006.

Husky's Midstream division engages in activities such as oil upgrading, pipeline systems, commodity marketing, electricity cogeneration, oil and gas storage, and processing.

Currently, Husky markets about of oil per day and uses another in refining and processing. A total of are managed overall. The company manages per day of natural gas and transports it along sixteen pipelines.

Husky Energy uses ethanol instead of MTBE in its gasoline products.