Micron Enviro Systems, Inc. has been informed by the operator that seismic operations have now commenced on one of the Athabasca Oil Sands properties that Micron has an interest in. The seismic is expected to be complete within 7 to10 days. Also, drilling of the test well on this acreage is expected to be underway shortly. All monies relating to drilling and seismic operations has been forwarded, therefore no additional capital will be needed at this time for this specific Oil Sands prospect. The seismic operations and test drilling will enable Micron to delineate the potential size of the oil sands resource in place. This prospect is in close proximity to Petrobank''s Whitesands Project which they have reported has 1.6 billion barrels of bitumen in place.
Bernie McDougall, President of Micron stated, “It is great to now have the seismic operations underway. Couple this with the anticipated drilling on this Oil Sands Prospect; it is clear that the next few weeks are potentially going to be the most significant event in the company''s growth since it became focused on oil and gas extraction six years ago. We are currently trading more than 40% percent below our recent high despite having more assets now and having operations commencing. Having a market capitalization of approximately $16 million makes Micron one of if not the smallest market capitalized company in the world class Alberta Oil Sands.
The Oil Sands of Canada hold recoverable reserves of 175 billion barrels with a proven reserve life of 480 years and another 130 billion barrels of potential reserves, which is second only to Saudi Arabia''s 262 billion barrels. As a comparison, the United States has only 29 billion barrels of recoverable reserves and has decreasing domestic production while their demand is increasing by 1-2% every year. Canada is in an optimal position to supply oil to the U.S. with its favorable political climate, close proximity and being one of the few non-OPEC countries which can grow its oil production. It is expected that over 100 billion dollars will be spent on developing the Alberta Oil Sands in the coming years. At this time only approximately 2% of the initial established resource has been produced to date in the massive Oil Sands of Alberta.
During 2006 Micron acquired its first Oil Sands Prospect and subsequently added three additional Alberta Oil Sands leases consisting of 4 new sections in the world-class Athabasca Oil Sands region. Two of these new sections are within 5 miles of Micron''s existing Athabasca Oil Sands Prospect and are close to the existing Oil Sands leases held by Connacher Oil and Gas''s Great Divide Prospect, as well as to other major Oil Sands projects by Devon, EnCana, and ConocoPhilips. The other new Alberta Oil Sands lease acquired consists of two contiguous sections that lie just southwest of the announced Royal Dutch Shell Plc Oil Sands leases which in 2006 were purchased for approximately $400 million.
Micron is planning to re-initiate a marketing plan to create additional awareness for the company as the oil and gas operations start up. There has been very little marketing since Micron changed its symbol to MENV, therefore management feels the market may not be aware of what Micron is doing. This plan will primarily be email based and will target 100 percent opt-in private and institutional investors that trade stocks in Micron''s price range. This marketing plan will include increasing Micron''s presence in Europe with a focus on Germany.