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T hu rsda y , J u l y 2 2 , 2 0 1 0
Serving the South Country, Fernie, Sparwood, Elkford since 1898
FERNIE
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3,301 - 6,000 Circulation
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First Place ll
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Summer soccer stars
Anti-BP protest - Page 12
ELKFORD
Grizzly visitors to Elkford - Page 2
TECK
Around 140 children took part in the British Soccer Camp in Fernie last week. Photo special on pages 14-15
BP sells coal bed gas project to Apache By Rebecca Edwards Free Press Staff
Update on coal dryer Page 3
SPORT
International soccer camp - Page 14 - 15
Photo by A. Treharne
T
he future of BP’s proposed Mist Mountain coal bed methane project is unknown, after the company sold it and all its Canadian extraction assets to help fund its clean-up effort in the Gulf of Mexico. The company announced on Tuesday that it has agreed to sell its Canadian upstream (extraction) assets for $7 billion to Apache Corporation, a large oil and gas company with sites across the world. The sale also included assets in Egypt, Texas and New Mexico. Hejdi Feick of BP Canada said that until the transfer goes through, it will be business as usual at the coal bed methane exploration site at Fir Creek near Corbin Road, Sparwood,
which opened last month. She added: “Provided we get regulatory approval, we expect to transition the business over to Apache fairly quickly, and be completed by the end of this year. “In the meantime work at the drill site will continue. The drilling is finished but test work will continue. We are selling the business as a going concern which means that any planned activities will continue forward then will be transitioned to Apache. She added: “We were approached by Apache for the entire upstream Canada gas business. That includes Mist Mountain, Noel Major gas project in north east B.C. and all our gas operations. It’s part of one big business. “Our employees are trying to wrap their heads around it. I know the Mist
Mountain team has had a I am sure we will review lot of calls about it so I all the assets we have purwould ask people to give chased.” them time to get back to MLA and Energy Minister them over the coming days Bill Bennett said this week as we get more informa- he looks forward to meettion.” ing the new company repRobert Dye, Vice resentatives and finding President of Apache Media out their intentions. Relations, “ I t said the means “We are selling the company a new business as a going did not player in concern which means target any the comthat any planned individual munity activities will projects and the with its continue forward then Elk Valley purchase. will have will be transitioned He added: to get to to Apache.” “We just k n o w announced Hejdi Feick A p a c h e this transBP Canada and how action – it t h e y is certainw o r k . ly premature to have an They are a big company, opinion on any of the BP I have not had any dealCanada assets at this point. ings with them personally We don’t expect this trans- before and, as minister action to close for several responsible I am wellmonths and after closing placed to make sure that
happens. “We will have to find out whether or not they have any intention of pursuing the coal bed gas exploration in the Elk Valley.” Casey Brennan of Wildsight had not heard the news of the sale until being contacted by The Free Press. He said: “This is the world we live in – when you treat the landscape as an asset that can be held privately and bought and sold regardless of what the stewardship of the land might be, this is the result.” “We try to work with corporations – we tried to work with BP. “We are not against development of the resources outright – we just don’t think the way it has been pursued in the Elk Valley is the appropriate way to go.”