Athabasca Acquires 1.0 Million Acres of Prospective Oil and Liquids-rich Gas Play in Alberta's Deep Basin & Drilling Program Nearly Completed

CALGARY, March 8 /CNW/ --
CALGARY, March 8 /CNW/ - Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. (TSX:  ATH) is
pleased to announce it has acquired more than 1.0 million acres (100%)
of petroleum and natural gas (P&NG) rights in the Deep Basin areas of
northwestern Alberta. The lands were acquired through crown sales and
from third-parties.

Bill Gallacher, Athabasca's chair of the board, says this is a strategic
opportunity for the company. 'The Deep Basin area may lead to important
early oil and natural gas liquids production while we are continuing
the work to bring our oil sands projects on-stream.'

The company has approximately $1.8 billion in working capital (as of
December 31, 2010). 'This is an excellent way for Athabasca to use its
cash until needed for our oil sands development,' Gallacher reports.
'This area offers the potential for a very short pay-back time and
plans are to reinvest in Athabasca's oil sands assets.'

According to Sveinung Svarte, Athabasca's president and CEO, the
acquisition of this new resource play is a tribute to the technical
strength and excellent work of the company's geosciences department. 'I
am very proud of our team. During the past four drilling seasons they
proved up approximately 12 billion barrels of contingent resource (best
estimate) in the Athabasca oil sands in-situ area. This was before we
divested about three billion barrels to Cretaceous Oilsands Holdings
Limited, a subsidiary of PetroChina Company Limited.

'The recent acquisition is the result of the same team's continuous
search for value in early stage oil development opportunities,' Svarte
adds. 'This area contains several formations which are now successfully
emerging as very prospective for production of oil and liquids-rich
natural gas, with the combined application of horizontal drilling and
multi-stage fracture technology. Several offset operators have drilled
successful wells in the Duvernay, Montney, Doig, Nordegg and Wilrich
formations, to name a few. We hope to do the same.' 

The company's initial plan is to drill up to six horizontal wells this
year to test several of the prospective formations. Athabasca is
currently drilling its first of these six wells in the Deep Basin area
and is optimistic it will be successful. These six wells, together with
associated geological studies and development work, were included in
the previously announced $302 million 2011 capital expenditure program
and are projected to cost $40 million.

Organizing Dedicated Asset Teams


As it acquired the land, Athabasca also built a dedicated department of
hand-picked professionals, each with extensive experience in oil and
liquids-rich natural gas plays in the Western Canadian Sedimentary
Basin.

'This committed team will be in charge of the exploration and
development of Athabasca's acreage in the Deep Basin area,' states
Svarte. 'This ensures our new area of interest does not compete for
internal resources with our oil sands development projects.  Our
employees have a 'well manufacturing mindset' to optimize the key
learning from each well and drive efficiency and cost-control, while
maintaining high standards of health, safety and environmental
protection.' 

Athabasca is organizing its activities into individual asset areas based
on geographic location. Each asset has a dedicated team charged with
the responsibility to develop and manage the resources in their area.
'We expect that important synergies will emerge as key departments,
such as drilling and geosciences, continue to collaborate and support
the asset areas,' says Svarte.

Winter Drilling Program Update


Athabasca also announces the winter drilling program (2010-2011) is
close to completion and the results of its delineation wells seem to be
in line with the company's ambitious expectations. Svarte says, 'We are
especially pleased with the drilling results in the Birch acreage,
which we wholly own.  As a result, we anticipate the contingent
resource figure will increase.  We have demonstrated bitumen saturated
sands in two new areas within the Birch asset, located approximately 10
kilometres and 35 kilometres northwest of the existing contingent
resource, within the central part of the Birch asset. '

Athabasca is a dynamic company incorporated in 2006.  It has excellent
assets, talented people and is well financed.  It is traded on the TSX
under the symbol ATH and has a market capitalization of $7.4 billion.

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 March 2011 Corporate Update presentation will also be available at www.aosc.com.

Reader Advisory


This News Release contains forward-looking information that involves
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factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially
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forward-looking statements included in this News Release should not be
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forward-looking statements pertaining to the following, including with
respect to AOSC's new P&NG assets: capital expenditure programs;
drilling plans; AOSC's plans for, and results of, exploration and
development activities; estimated future commitments; business plans;
AOSC's plans with respect to the Birch asset; and the expected benefits to be received by AOSC from its assets; 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: the ability to obtain qualified staff and equipment in a timely
and cost-efficient manner; the regulatory framework governing
royalties, taxes and environmental matters; the applicability of
technologies for the recovery and production of AOSC's reserves and
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capital expenditures; future sources of funding; 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; AOSC's transaction with
Cretaceous Oil Sands Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of  PetroChina
International Investments Company Limited; 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'), and including: fluctuations in commodity prices;
general economic, market and business conditions; variations in foreign
exchange and interest rates; factors affecting potential profitability;
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resources; AOSC's status and stage of development; uncertainties
inherent in operations, including potential disruption or unexpected
technical difficulties; AOSC's ability to generate sufficient cash flow
from operations to meet its current and future obligations; Steam
Assisted Gravity Drainage ('SAGD'), Cyclic Steam Stimulation ('CSS')
and other bitumen recovery processes; failure to meet development
schedules and potential cost overruns; increases in operating costs can
make projects uneconomic; 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;
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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 and petroleum and natural gas
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 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; competition; the failure to meet specific
requirements of such licenses or leases; and risks arising from future
acquisition activities. 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.

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