US Oil Sands Inc. Provides Operational Update, Announces Second Quarter 2014 Results and Executive Management Addition

CALGARY, Aug. 14, 2014 /CNW/ - US Oil Sands Inc. ("US Oil Sands" or the "Company") (TSXV: USO), a company focused on oil sands exploration and production in Utah today announced that it has filed its unaudited interim financial statements ("Interim Report") for the three month period ended June 30, 2014 ("Q2 2014") along with the management discussion and analysis ("MD&A") of the financial results of US Oil Sands for such period.

A copy of the aforementioned documents may be found for viewing on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval website at www.sedar.com as well as US Oil Sands' website at www.usoilsandsinc.com.

SELECTED QUARTERLY HIGHLIGHTS

Since April 1, 2014, the Company:

• Announced that the Board of Directors approved the Final Investment Decision to proceed with construction of an enhanced Phase 1 Project at its PR Spring location in Utah;
  
• Issued purchase orders for substantially all of the ore handling equipment and initiated the procurement of long delivery equipment for the PR Spring Project;
  
• Received approval of its U.S. patent application for its bitumen extraction process, which complements the issuance of the Canadian patent granted in 2012;
  
• Announced that the Utah Supreme Court dismissed the only outstanding regulatory challenge made against the Company's PR Spring Project; and
  
• Appointed Mark H. Brown to the Company's Board of Directors.

"Since our Board of Directors' approval to proceed with construction of US Oil Sands' enhanced PR Spring Project, we have made considerable progress, particularly with the procurement of most of the required ore handling equipment," said Cameron Todd, CEO of US Oil Sands.  "As long-lead equipment procurement continues, we are working diligently to finalize detailed engineering, site preparation, utilities tie-in and fieldwork such that we remain on-track to commence installation and commissioning in the second and third quarters of next year."

OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

During the second quarter of 2014, the Company's project team continued to work with its engineering contractors and equipment suppliers to finalize engineering and procure supplies for the PR Spring Project. Having issued purchase orders for substantially all of the ore handling equipment, US Oil Sands will continue placing orders for other major equipment over the next few months. The Company is targeting installation in mid-2015 with commissioning to follow.

The Company commenced field work and made progress on plant-site grading; utility supply infrastructure; and roadways and water supply pipeline construction. Detailed pit sequencing and mine logistics continued to advance. The Company has hired several key personnel located in Canada and in Utah to support the PR Spring Project.

EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT ADDITION

Effective September 2, 2014, US Oil Sands will welcome the addition of Ed Koshka as Vice President, Business Development & Marketing. Mr. Koshka has 28 years of business development and crude oil marketing experience in the oil & gas industry, the last 10 of which has been focused specifically on applying technology innovation to oil sands development.  Prior thereto, Mr. Koshka was a Principal Consultant at Purvin & Gertz, Inc. following a 13 year career at Petro-Canada in various downstream roles. Mr. Koshka is a Professional Engineer, has a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alberta and an MBA from the University of Calgary.    

Mr. Koshka will be focused on developing oil sands opportunities utilizing US Oil Sands' proprietary bitumen extraction process in the Athabasca oil sands region and in other worldwide jurisdictions where his previous experience developing three unique oil sands projects will be invaluable.  From a crude marketing perspective, project values can be enhanced by selling production into the most beneficial markets and Mr. Koshka will apply his considerable downstream expertise, initially to the Company's near-term PR Spring Project, to capture that value.

"Mr. Koshka has been consulting with US Oil Sands on business development initiatives in Canada for a number of months now and we're delighted that he's accepted an elevated role within the Company," said Cameron Todd.  "His experience is aptly suited to furthering US Oil Sands' goal of implementing our revolutionary bitumen extraction process in Canada and maximizing market value for our forthcoming oil production."

OUTLOOK

For the remainder of 2014, the Company will continue to focus on the PR Spring Project Phase 1 of engineering and mine design, placement of orders for long-lead equipment and refinement of equipment component selection for all other equipment. General site preparation is expected to be completed in 2014. Management anticipates that the off-site fabrication of the process extraction plant will be partially complete in 2014, with final off-site fabrication and field assembly occurring in mid-2015, followed by commissioning and commercial start-up.

To ensure a ready inventory of future mineable assets for the Company, management intends to continue to pursue opportunities to add additional resource lands by assessing growth prospects and furthering regulatory application efforts.

ABOUT US OIL SANDS LTD.

US Oil Sands is engaged in the exploration and development of oil sands properties and, through its wholly owned United States subsidiary US Oil Sands (Utah) Inc., has a 100% interest in bitumen leases covering 32,005 acres of land in Utah's Uinta Basin. The Company plans to develop its oil sands properties using its proprietary extraction process which uses a bio-solvent to extract bitumen from oil sands without the need for tailings ponds.  The Company is in the pre-production stage, anticipating the commencement of bitumen production and sales in 2015.

The foregoing information contains forward-looking information relating to the future performance of the Company including information relating to the development and construction of the PR Spring Project, mine planning, commencement of commercial production and corporate development activities. Forward looking information is subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in our forward looking statements. Such risks and other factors include, among others, the actual results of exploration activities, changes in world commodity markets or equity markets, the risks of the petroleum industry including, without limitation, those associated with the environment, delays in obtaining governmental approvals, permits or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities, title disputes, change in government and changes to regulations affecting the oil and gas industry, and other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with the Canadian securities administrators (available at www.SEDAR.com). Forward-looking statements are made based on various assumptions and on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date the statements are made. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking information contained herein. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these assumptions, beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as required by applicable law.

Discovered bitumen resources or discovered bitumen initially-in-place is that quantity of bitumen that is estimated, as of a given date, to be contained in known accumulations on Company lands prior to production. Best estimate is considered to be the best estimate of the quantity that will actually be in-place.  It is equally likely that the actual remaining quantities in-place will be greater or less than the best estimate. There is no certainty that it will be commercially viable to produce any portion of the resources. Additional information relating to resource estimates is contained in the Company's Statement of Resources Data and Other Oil and Gas Information for the year ended December 31, 2013 dated April 2, 2014 and available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE US Oil Sands Inc.