Canadian oil firm to buy into firm specialised in oil well-to-geothermal conversion
Oil well in Alberta/ Canada (source: flickr/ davebloggs007, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
2 Dec 2016
A Canadian oil player has announced plans to acquire the assets and intellectual property of Sundial Energy, a company specialised in oil well-to-geothermal conversion.
In an interesting press release today, a Canadian oil player announces plans to buy a company specialised in oil well-to-geothermal conversion.
Wellstar Energy Corp. (TSXV: WSE) reports having “entered into a Letter of Intent dated November 25, 2016 in connection with the acquisition of Sundial Energy Ltd. (“Sundial”) which represents an undivided 100% interest in its assets and intellectual property. Sundial is involved in the field of geothermal heating applications, LED lighting and solar power generation.
WellStar, at its McTaggart, SK oil project produces in excess of 1,200 barrels per day of oil and water that at surface is approximately 50 degrees Celsius. Currently, the produced oil and water are gravity separated, then the produced hot water is pumped into the Company’s onsite disposal well, leaving a significant resource of unutilized geothermal heat.
The excess heat in the volume of liquids produced from the Company’s oil wells at its McTaggart project is rare but not unique. The Company believes that existing pumping oil wells that produce significant heat can be used as a source of energy for many applications. The acquisition of Sundial Energy with its renewable energy expertise, will assist WellStar in developing the process to make use of this otherwise wasted resource.
Through work spearheaded by Sundial and the Living Energy Project in Leduc, Alberta, WellStar further believes that opportunities lie in utilizing existing suspended wells as a source for a geothermal loop. This would allow for the installation of a geothermal unit that would generate energy by extracting heat from oil or natural gas wells already drilled, effectively deferring abandonment of wells that outlived their economic hydrocarbon cycle by recycling the existing wellbores for another useful mandate.
Additionally, WellStar has signed a lease option agreement and secured 4 acres of highly arable land neighboring its McTaggart, SK project for the purpose of becoming a leader in utilizing captured geothermal energy from its producing oil wells to heat greenhouses and produce profitable crops.
Heating is a major component of a commercial greenhouse facility’s operating budget. Eliminating that cost center would provide a significant increase in profit margins for food, medicinal crops, herbs or flowers grown in greenhouses.
Company president and CEO Andrew H. Rees commented “While this is not a change in focus or direction for the Company, management is excited at having the opportunity to be an industry leader by profitably capturing heat from producing oil wells while providing a social benefit to surrounding communities by offering a fresh and local food source. There is an additional opportunity to scale this project by partnering with local communities in addition to communities in remote areas.”
Upon signing a definitive agreement with Sundial, the Company will issue Sundial 250,000 common shares of WellStar Energy Corp. The Company will issue an additional 250,000 common shares of WellStar Energy Corp. to Sundial on the one year anniversary from closing.
The completion of the Acquisition is conditional upon, among other things, completion of due diligence, entering into a mutually acceptable definitive agreement by December 15, 2016; and obtaining all necessary regulatory approvals for the Acquisition, including from the TSX Venture Exchange (the “TSX-V”).
Source: Sundial Energy Ltd – Living Energy Project,
