"Fort Hills is truly a made-in-Alberta project that we have been working hard to deliver - but the current economic climate has slowed us down," said Neil Camarta, Petro-Canada's senior vice-president of Oil Sands. "We are very pleased that the province of Alberta has agreed to a compromise that gives us the additional time to make this project a reality."

In November 2008, the Partnership announced the deferral of the final investment decision on the mining portion of the Project until a cost estimate consistent with the current market environment can be established. The Sturgeon Upgrader ("Upgrader") portion of the Project was put on hold and a decision on whether to proceed with the Upgrader will be made at a later date.

The Partnership consists of Petro-Canada with a 60% interest, UTS Energy Corporation with a 20% working interest and Teck Cominco Limited with a 20% interest, with Petro-Canada Oil Sands Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Petro-Canada, as the contract operator for the Project.

Petro-Canada is one of Canada's largest oil and gas companies, operating in both the upstream and downstream sectors of the industry in Canada and internationally.

UTS Energy Corporation is focused on growing and developing oil sands assets. The Calgary-based company was instrumental in re-establishing the Fort Hills Oil Sands Project and is the principal founder of the Fort Hills Energy Partnership.

Teck Cominco Limited is a diversified mining company, headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. The company is a world leader in the production of zinc and metallurgical coal and is also a significant producer of copper, gold, indium and other specialty metals.