CALGARY, July 27 /CNW/ - BlackRock Ventures Inc. confirmed today that bitumen processing has resumed at its Seal facility, approximately 80 km northeast of Peace River, Alberta. The processing facilities were shut in on June 30, 2006 after a fire damaged a significant portion of the oil battery. Processing was re-started through the undamaged battery portion on July 24 and the facility is currently producing approximately 8,000 barrels of bitumen per day, of which approximately 4,000 barrels per day are BlackRock volumes. The Seal facility has a design capacity of 23,000 barrels per day. Repairs to the balance of the facility continue. The Company is investigating the cause of the fire. 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 July 2006, Shell Canada Limited completed its acquisition of BlackRock Ventures Inc. with the purchase of 100 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.