That the MRC refinery enabled Connacher to secure long term debt financing in addition to acting as collateral is stated on page 12 of the 2006 Annual Report:

"Many of our Montana-based management and staff elected to remain with Connacher following the change of ownership. As will be noted later, ownership of the refinery also played a significant role in our ability to secure long-term debt financing for Pod One, reinforcing the soundness of this strategic initiative."

and on page 16 it states again:

" Even prior to the commencement of bitumen production at Great Divide, the refinery was a significant cash flow and profit generator during 2006. Ownership of the refinery also was a contributing factor to our successful placement of term debt to finance development Pod One at Great Divide."

and again on page 25 it states:

"The ownership of the refinery assisted Connacher in its establishment of a term loan facility to finance its Great Divide Pod One development. The refinery assets also provide a portion of the collateral for the Great Divide term loan. "

The MRC refinery also has a lot of potential which is currently not being realized in that following an expansion to 35,000 bbl/d at some future date it could process dilbit from Great Divide/Algar and supply a lot of their diluent via pipeline someday as stated in the following quote from page 12 of the 2006 Annual Report:

"The refinery is situated in Great Falls, Montana. Although small by international standards, this highly sophisticated refinery is actually the plant in the United States situated in closest proximity to the Alberta oil sands. Historically reliant on heavy Canadian crude for its feedstock, the refinery is connected to pipelines originating in Canada and could, with modifications, process and refine Great Divide bitumen. If necessary, it potentially could also provide diluent to Great Divide, in order to meet pipeline specifications for transportation of production from the oil sands. As with Luke, it also provided a new source of cash flow, added credit capacity and is a solid profitable business. It effectively serves as a proxy for an on-site upgrader at Pod One. The refinery purchase converted Connacher into a miniintegrated oil company and provided the essential elements of our hedging strategy to deal with downstream differential risk. Connacher’s refinery can deliver favorable operating margins, even with widened differentials in an increasingly volatile crude oil price environment, as was experienced in 2006. "

Best Wishes; Scott