Early this year, ConocoPhillips had announced plans to sell 50 per cent of its stake in six Alberta properties spread over 715,000 acres that produce 12,000 barrels of oil a day from an estimated 30 billion barrels of bitumen. The Alberta assets comprise the Surmont project, Thornbury, Clyden, Saleski, Crow Lake and McMillan Lake. The Surmont project, located approximately 63km southeast of Fort McMurray, Alberta, in the Athabasca oil sands region, is the only producing asset and is operated by ConocoPhillips Canada. The Surmont project is a 50:50 joint venture with Total of France and the partners are working on Phase 2, slated to begin production in 2015, which will increase gross production capacity from 27,000 to 110,000 barrels per day.