MEG Energy Corp is a pure play Canadian oil sands producer engaged in exploration in Northern Alberta. All of its oil reserves are more than 1,000 feet (300 m) below the surface and so they depend on steam-assisted gravity drainage and associated technology to produce (heavy bitumen must first be brought to the surface).

The company’s main thermal project is Christina Lake. 85-megawatt cogeneration plants are used to produce the steam used in SAGD which is required to bring bitumen to the surface. The excess heat and electricity produced at its plants is then sold to Alberta’s power grid.

Its proven reserves have been independently pegged at 1.7 billion barrels (270×106 m3) and probable reserves (also called recoverable resource) 3.7 billion barrels (590×106 m3) (by engineering firm GLJ Petroleum Consultants Ltd ); That’s significant considering only 300 billion barrels (48×109 m3) of the 1.6 trillion barrels (250×109 m3) of bitumen in Alberta is considered recoverable under current technology.

The value of those reserves is over $19.8 billion. CNOOC has a minority 16.69% interest in MEG Energy.

Within nine months of going public it reached large cap company status after a small cap ipo. As recently as 2007 it was a junior oil company.

Traded as:           TSX: MEG

Industry:              Oil and gas industry

Founded:            1999 by William J McCaffery as McCaffery Energy Group Inc

Headquarters:   Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Products:             Petroleum; Electricity

Website:              www.megenergy.com