CALGARY, July 5 /CNW/ - BlackRock Ventures Inc (TSX:BVI) confirmed today that on Friday, June 30 at approximately 9:30 a.m. a fire occurred at its bitumen processing facility at Seal, near Peace River, Alberta. BlackRock emergency crews responded to the incident immediately with support from the Peace River Fire Department and industrial fire response crews. The fire was extinguished by early Friday evening. No one was injured and regulatory authorities were notified. The cause of the fire is unknown at this time. An investigation into the cause of the fire was launched on Saturday, July 1. Damage at the facility was contained to the oil battery, with significant damage to up to 40 per cent of the battery facility. The Seal field has maintained some production, but the undamaged processing facilities will be shut in until operations can be resumed safely in the coming weeks. BlackRock Ventures Inc. is an oil sands producer with operations located exclusively in Canada. Current operations are located in three heavy oil regions: the Peace River oil sands, the Cold Lake oil sands and the Lloydminster area. In June 2006, Shell Canada Limited acquired control of BlackRock Ventures Inc. with the purchase of 98 per cent of its common shares. This document contains "forward-looking statements" based upon management's assessment of the Corporation's operations. The forward-looking statements contained in this document include references to future production and operational reliability. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, known and unknown risks, and uncertainties that may cause the Corporation's actual performance or results to differ materially from any estimates or projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These assumptions, risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, operating conditions, operating costs, labour availability, material and equipment shortages, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Corporation. Although the Corporation believes that the expectations represented by such forward-looking statements are reasonable based on the information available to it on the date of this document, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct.