Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. Announces Filing of 2010 Fourth Quarter Financial Statements

CALGARY, March 2 /CNW/ --
CALGARY, March 2 /CNW/ - Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. (TSX:  ATH) announces
it has filed its financial statements and management's discussion and
analysis (MD&A) for the year ended December 31, 2010.  These documents
can be retrieved electronically from SEDAR (www.sedar.com) or from AOSC's website (www.aosc.com).

AOSC Updates 2010 Activities

Athabasca's fourth quarter marked the successful culmination of a
significant year of growth for the company. It announced it was
accelerating multi-phase developments at its wholly-owned Hangingstone
and Dover West assets and the regulatory application was filed in
December for the Dover commercial project.

A wholly-owned subsidiary of PetroChina International Investment Company
Limited acquired all of the shares of a wholly-owned subsidiary of the
company that owned a 60% interest in the MacKay River and Dover
commercial oil sands projects in February, for cash consideration of
$1.9 billion. Two months later, Athabasca completed Canada's largest
energy IPO (initial public offering) and raised $1.35 billion (gross)
by issuing 75 million common shares. It was also listed on the Toronto
Stock Exchange (TSE) under the trading symbol ATH.  At year-end it had
a market capitalization of $6.0 billion.

In June, the company reported it had approximately 8.591 billion barrels
of contingent resources (best estimate) and 114 million barrels of
probable reserves, a 20% increase in total resources over the previous
year-end's third-party estimates. With the Hangingstone area
acquisitions in the latter half of 2010 (described below), these
figures further increased to 8.820 billion barrels of contingent
resources (best estimate) and 114 million barrels of probable reserves.

According to Bill Gallacher, chair of the board, Athabasca delivered a
strong performance in 2010 while maintaining a solid balance sheet.
'The company has emerged as a major Canadian in-situ oil sands
developer and performed well despite the recent global economic
downturn. Many companies have gone to geologically challenging and
politically unstable areas to search for oil. Athabasca chose to focus
on Alberta.'

The company has drilled enough wells to delineate billions of barrels of
bitumen trapped in the oil sands, Gallacher adds. 'Once developed, we
expect these resources should provide a reliable, secure and
sustainable source of energy for future generations.'

On December 31, the company held 2.5 million acres (net) of mineral
leases and permits and has the second largest in-situ bitumen resource
base in northern Alberta. The current portfolio of oil sands projects
offers the potential of peak production rates of 500,000 to 800,000
barrels/day and an overall life of about 40 years.

Development at Hangingstone Accelerated (100%)


One of the highlights of 2010 was the addition of acreage in the
Hangingstone area through the acquisition of Excelsior Energy Limited
(75%) and through an asset acquisition from Bounty Development Ltd.
(25%). This allowed Athabasca to build its resource base and announce
plans for a multi-phase development of more than 70,000 barrels/day at
peak production.

Sveinung Svarte, Athabasca's president and CEO says, 'We are the sole
owners of our combined Hangingstone asset. This gives our employees the
opportunity to bring in a modest, but important project to demonstrate
we can build and develop a SAGD operation on-time and on-budget. It's a
significant step to continue to de-risk our bitumen barrels and bring
production on-stream as soon as possible.'

The company anticipates it will file a regulatory application in the
first half of 2011 for a 12,000 barrels/day steam assisted gravity
drainage (SAGD) project. It expects the Energy Resources Conservation
Board (ERCB) will take approximately 14 months to review it and, once
approvals are granted, another year to construct the central processing
facilities. The company plans to build certain components large enough
for subsequent phases.  First steam could be as early as late 2013 with
the approximately 25,000 barrels/day second phase planned for first
steam three years later.

Dover West Development Fast-Tracked (100%)


Athabasca was pleased to announce it had fast-tracked development at
Dover West where it plans to file a regulatory application in the
second half of 2011 for a 12,000 barrels/day SAGD project with
production from the Cretaceous oil sands, in addition to developments
of the bitumen accumulations in the high quality Leduc reef carbonate
reservoir. This winter (2010-2011) the company is drilling a number of
wells to conduct two tests of the performance of the Leduc formation.
The first test consists of injecting steam into the reservoir to
evaluate the use of steam for bitumen recovery. The second test will
use thermal assisted gravity drainage (TAGD) to assess its
effectiveness and gauge if conductive heating is more appropriate.

'Since the company owns nearly all of the Leduc reef in the Athabasca
region, it is up to us to demonstrate which of the methods will produce
commercial amounts of bitumen, in the most efficient way and with the
smallest environmental footprint,' reports Svarte. 'The tests we have
conducted in the laboratory have been extremely promising.  We expect
to get more definitive answers from our eight to 10 month field
experiments at Dover West.'

Dover Files Commercial Project Application (40%)


As planned, Dover Operating Corp. (Dover OPCO) filed its regulatory
application in December to construct a 250,000 barrels/day oil sands
project at Dover. The initial phase is estimated at about 50,000
barrels/day and approvals are expected to take approximately
24-months. 

Dover OPCO was formed by Athabasca and Cretaceous Oil Sands Holdings
Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PetroChina International Company
Limited, to build and manage this project and the MacKay River
commercial development.

'This milestone is important for both Dover OPCO and Athabasca,' Svarte
adds. 'We believe there is significant opportunity for production
growth at Dover, once we incorporate what we have learned from the
MacKay River project. We aspire to soon have a proven-track record of
low-cost operations and an excellent record of environmental
stewardship.'

AOSC's Financial Review


As of December 31, the company had $1.8 billion of working capital,
including cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. Management
believes Athabasca's working capital, combined with the second loan
from PetroChina (and if the put/call option is not exercised,
PetroChina's third loan), is sufficient to fund its expenses into 2014,
based on current plans.

Athabasca is a dynamic bitumen company formed to develop and produce
bitumen in the Athabasca region of northeastern Alberta. It was
incorporated in 2006 with a goal to use the latest technology to
produce bitumen in a sound and safe manner. It has excellent assets,
talented people and is well financed.  It is traded on the TSX under
the symbol ATH.

NOTE TO ANALYSTS AND EDITORS:

Sveinung Svarte will present Athabasca's updated story with a live
webcast presentation at:


First Energy/Société Générale New York Energy Conference


Thursday, March 10, 2011 8:25 AM EST


To listen and view this online event, please visit: http://jetslides.tv/lobby/375.


It will be available in an archived link for 30 days following at this
site.


The presentation will also be available at www.aosc.com.

Reader Advisory


This News Release contains forward-looking information that involves
various risks, uncertainties and other factors. All statements other
than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. The
use of any of the words 'anticipate', 'plan', 'continue', 'estimate',
'expect', 'may', 'will', 'project', 'should', 'believe', 'predict',
'pursue' and 'potential' and similar expressions are intended to
identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking information is
not historical fact, but rather is based on AOSC's current plans,
objectives, goals, strategies, estimates, assumptions and projections
about AOSC's industry, business and future financial results. These
statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially
from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. No assurance
can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such
forward-looking statements included in this News Release should not be
unduly relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date of this
News Release. In particular, this News Release may contain
forward-looking statements pertaining to the following: AOSC's capital
expenditure programs; the estimated quantity of AOSC's Probable and
Possible Reserves and Contingent Resources; AOSC's drilling plans;
AOSC's plans for, and results of, exploration and development
activities; AOSC's estimated future commitments; proposed experimental
testing in the Dover West area and the results there from; business
plans; development of the MacKay River and Dover oil sands projects;
timing of facilities construction and production at MacKay River;
estimated initial and full production of the MacKay River and Dover
projects; timing of submission of the Dover project's commercial
application; AOSC's plans with respect to the Birch and Grosmont
assets; timing of completion of the Excelsior transaction, AOSC's plans
with respect to the assets to be acquired from Excelsior and the
expected benefits to be received by AOSC from such assets; the
pro-forma effect of the Excelsior transaction on AOSC's resources and
undeveloped land position; and the timing for receipt of regulatory
approvals. With respect to forward-looking statements and
forward-looking information contained in this News Release, assumptions
have been made regarding, among other things: AOSC's ability to obtain
qualified staff and equipment in a timely and cost-efficient manner;
the regulatory framework governing royalties, taxes and environmental
matters in the jurisdictions in which AOSC conducts and will conduct
its business; the applicability of technologies for the recovery and
production of AOSC's reserves and resources; future capital
expenditures to be made by AOSC; future sources of funding for AOSC's
capital programs; AOSC's future debt levels; geological and engineering
estimates in respect of AOSC's reserves and resources; the geography of
the areas in which AOSC is conducting exploration and development
activities; the impact that AOSC's transaction with the PetroChina
subsidiary (as described in the News Release) will have on AOSC,
including on AOSC's financial condition and results of operations;  the
receipt of all required regulatory, shareholder and other third party
approvals of the Excelsior transaction; the completion of the Excelsior
transaction on the terms and on the schedule outlined in this New
Release; and AOSC's ability to obtain financing on acceptable terms.
Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these
forward-looking statements as a result of the risk factors set forth
above and under the headings 'Notice to Investors -Forward-Looking
Statements' and 'Risk Factors' in the Company's prospectus dated March
30, 2010, which is available on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com ('Prospectus'), including: fluctuations in market prices for crude oil
and bitumen blend; general economic, market and business conditions;
dependence on the PetroChina subsidiary as the joint venture
participant in the MacKay River and Dover oil sands projects;
variations in foreign exchange and interest rates; factors affecting
potential profitability; the global financial crisis; uncertainties
inherent in estimating quantities of reserves and resources; AOSC's
status and stage of development; uncertainties inherent in Steam
Assisted Gravity Drainage ('SAGD'), Cyclic Steam Stimulation ('CSS')
and other bitumen recovery processes; the potential impact of the
exercise of the Put/Call Options (as defined in the Prospectus) on
AOSC; failure to meet the conditions precedent to the exercise by AOSC
of the Put/Call Options, including failure to receive regulatory
approval for the MacKay River oil sands project and/or the Dover oil
sands project when anticipated or at all; failure to obtain necessary
regulatory approvals for completion of the Put/Call Option transactions
on the terms and conditions set forth in the Put/Call Option Agreement;
failure to meet development schedules and potential cost overruns;
increases in operating costs can make projects uneconomic; the effect
of diluent and natural gas supply constraints and increases in the
costs thereof; gas over bitumen issues affecting operational results;
the potential for adverse consequences in the event that AOSC defaults
under certain of the PetroChina Transaction Agreements (as defined in
the Prospectus); environmental risks and hazards and the cost of
compliance with environmental regulations, including greenhouse gas
regulations and potential Canadian and U.S. climate change legislation;
failure to obtain or retain key personnel; the substantial capital
requirements of AOSC's projects; the need to obtain regulatory
approvals and maintain compliance with regulatory requirements; extent
of, and cost of compliance with, government laws and regulations and
the effect of changes in such laws and regulations from time to time;
changes to royalty regimes; political risks; failure to accurately
estimate abandonment and reclamation costs; risks inherent in AOSC's
operations, including those related to exploration, development and
production of oil sands reserves and resources, including the
production of oil sands reserves and resources using SAGD, CSS or other
in-situ technologies; the potential for management estimates and
assumptions to be inaccurate; long term reliance on third parties;
reliance on third party infrastructure for project facilities; failure
by counterparties (including without limitation on the PetroChina
subsidiary) to make payments or perform their operational or other
obligations to AOSC in compliance with the terms of contractual
arrangements between AOSC and such counterparties and the possible
consequences thereof; the potential lack of available drilling
equipment and limitations on access to AOSC's assets; aboriginal
claims; seasonality; hedging risks; risks associated with establishing
and maintaining systems of internal controls; insurance risks; claims
made in respect of AOSC's operations, properties or assets; the
potential for adverse consequences as a result of the change of control
provisions in the PetroChina Transaction Agreements; competition for,
among other things, capital, the acquisition of reserves and resources,
export pipeline capacity and skilled personnel; the failure of AOSC or
the holder of certain licenses or leases to meet specific requirements
of such licenses or leases; risks arising from future acquisition
activities; risks relating to the reliance on financial information,
including that financial information does not reflect the added costs
that AOSC expects to incur as a public entity; volatility in the market
price of the common shares; the effect that the issuance of additional
securities by AOSC could have on the market price of the common shares;
the Excelsior transaction may not close when planned or at all; the
failure of AOSC and Excelsior to obtain the necessary security holder,
Court, regulatory and other third party approvals or satisfy the other
conditions to proceed with the Excelsior transaction; incorrect
assessment of the value of the Excelsior transaction; failure to
realize the anticipated benefits of the Excelsior transaction; and
risks relating to AOSC's dividend policy. In addition, information and
statements in this News Release relating to 'reserves' and 'resources'
are deemed to be forward-looking information and statements, as they
involve the implied assessment, based on certain estimates and
assumptions, that the reserves and resources described exist in the
quantities predicted or estimated, and that the reserves and resources
described can be profitably produced in the future. The assumptions
relating to AOSC's reserves and resources are contained in the reports
of GLJ Petroleum Consultants Ltd. dated effective April 30, 2010,
DeGolyer and MacNaughton Canada Limited dated effective April 30, 2010
and McDaniel & Associates Consultants Ltd. dated effective December 31,
2009. The risks and uncertainties referred to above are described in
more detail in AOSC's prospectus dated March 30, 2010 and in AOSC's
Statement of Oil and Gas Reserves Data and Other Oil and Gas
Information for the Year Ended December 31, 2009, each of which is
available on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.  See also AOSC's press release issued on June 9, 2010 and its material
change report dated June 18, 2010.  Readers are cautioned that the
foregoing list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive.
The forward-looking statements included in this News Release are
expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. AOSC does not
undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any
forward-looking statements except as required by applicable securities
laws.

To view this news release in HTML formatting, please use the following URL: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2011/02/c7249.html

Heather Douglas
Vice President, Communications & External Affairs
(403) 532-7408
hdouglas@aosc.com