OK, so we are on the same page. They are getting about $50 per bbl for their bitumen by selling it to OPTI upgrader regardless of the financial hedges they have on the futures market, right?
How about the $33 netback? I suppose this is not the cash which can be deposit to the bank, or use to pay the debt or pay for the expansion?
What is the actual netback which include the interest payment on debt, maintenance capital expenditure (like shuts in and replacing pumps every 12 to 18 months) and capital expenditure including necessity of drilling the additional wells to compensate for the depletion (dropping in time bitumen flow)? Is it fair to say that at 8000 to 10,000 bbl/d production the actual netbacks are about zero?
