June 23, 2008, Enerplus announced an agreement to sell its interest in the Joslyn oil sands lease for $500 million. The agreement is to sell its 15% working interest in the Joslyn oil sands lease ("Joslyn") to Occidental Petroleum Corporation for proceeds of $500 million which, including adjustments but before transaction costs, is estimated to be $510 million at closing. Enerplus plans to use the proceeds initially to reduce bank debt but expects to redeploy the funds towards accretive acquisitions and development opportunities. The transaction, which is subject to customary conditions, consents and regulatory approvals, is expected to close by the end of the third quarter of 2008.  To read the entire news release, please click here.

During the first quarter of 2008, Enerplus made the single largest acquisition in our history.  On February 13, 2008, we completed the $1.7 billion acquisition of Focus Energy Trust. The concentration and overlap of the Focus properties (approximately 85% of the total production volumes from Focus was derived from the Shackleton, Saskatchewan and Tommy Lakes, British Columbia properties) and our combined technical and execution expertise have been key elements in the integration. This acquisition has given us a production weighting of just over 60% natural gas and 40% crude oil and NGLs in our portfolio. This acquisition fit with our strategy of growth, with high quality assets that will help to improve our operating metircs and also bring over $430 million of future development potential. The two key operated properties, Shackleton and Tommy Lakes, provide concentrated assets with significant overlap. This will give Enerplus an increased size that will provide greater financial capacity to pursue additional merger and acquisition activity and large capital projects.

The Shackleton project has current production, as of March 31, 2008, of approximately 75MMcf/daywWith approximately 1,500 drilling locations constituting 4-5 years of low-risk, repeatable development opportunities. There is potential for increased well density, additional compression and play extension through step-out drilling on over 250,000 net acres of undeveloped land. there are 320 wells remaining in the 2008 program.

The Tommy Lakes area has current production as of March 31, 2008, of approximately 7,000 BOE/day with thick continuous reservoir with low permeability.  There are 3 years of low-risk drilling locations currently identified.

On April 10, 2007, we completed the acquisition of a 90% interest in the Kirby Oil Sands partnership ("Kirby") located in the heart of the Athabasca oil sands fairway of Alberta for $182.5 million. On June 22, we acquired the remaining 10% working interest in Kirby for $20.3 million and as a result, now owns a 100% working interest in this operated steam assisted gravity drainage ("SAGD") project. In aggregate, our Kirby acquisitions represent a total contingent resource estimate of 244 million barrels. Our development plans for Kirby include a 10,000 bbl/day SAGD project with first production expected in 2011 and potential expansion to a total of 30,000 to 40,000 bbls/day of bitumen production. Our plans for this year include a winter core hole drilling program to further delineate the lease. In addition, preparatory engineering, stakeholder consultation and other activities are planned that will advance our regulatory application which we expect to file in 2008.

This strategic acquisition provides Enerplus with additional long-term oil sands assets with SAGD development potential that we believe will add significant value for our unitholders in the years to come. Oil sands assets are a key resource play for Enerplus given their lower geologic risk and the scalable development associated with these types of assets. The addition of an operated SAGD project compliments our existing portfolio of non-operated oil sands assets which include the mining and SAGD projects on the Joslyn lease.

On January 31, 2007, we acquired additional assets in the United States with the purchase of a gross-overriding royalty interest in the Jonah natural gas field in Wyoming for $61.3 million. This is a modest increase to our U.S. portfolio and establishes a new area with significant gas development potential. The attractiveness of this asset relates to the high cash flow per BOE as the gross-overriding royalty is not subject to deductions for operating costs, royalties or any future development capital. This acquisition also comes with a RLI of 15.9 years and significant future development opportunities from which Enerplus will benefit but will not be required to fund.