CALGARY, Alberta, Feb 12 (Reuters) – Oak Point Energy Ltd is an Alberta start-up looking to make its mark in the booming oil sands sector, and Ontario figures big in its plans.

Oak Point, founded by two Alberta energy veterans, has developed an innovative modular system to produce bitumen from the oil sands, an off-the-shelf product offering some protection against cost inflation that’s creeping back into new projects.

Tapping Eastern Canada’s manufacturing sector to build the gear for the West’s booming energy industry is one way to beat back cost pressures while allowing other parts of Canada to cash in on the opportunity, said Ken James, privately held Oak Point’s co-president and chief executive.

The two regions of the country have long been bitter economic rivals, and have also moved in different directions. In the West, energy lifted the Albertan economy, while the high Canadian dollar, global recession and downturn in the auto industry hit Ontario, Eastern Canada’s manufacturing heartland.

“Our thinking is we want to use the existing infrastructure, existing stable workforce of Eastern Canada,” said James, whose company is also developing oil sands leases and planning for an eventual initial public offering.

“They know how to build things for Canadian climatic conditions, they speak the same language, and we also believe that there is great merit in getting political alignment and sharing the benefits of the resources of Alberta.”

It’s been a tough run in Ontario, the country’s most populous province. In the last year alone, its once-mighty manufacturing sector shed 32,000 jobs, according to Statistics Canada.

CALGARY, Alberta, Feb 9 (Reuters) – Husky Energy Inc’s fourth-quarter profit nearly tripled as production and oil prices rose, the company said on Thursday, but the results lagged estimates due to higher-than-expected exploration expenses and taxes.

Husky, one of Canada’s largest producers of heavy crude oil, also warned that weakness in pricing for heavy crude grades as well as volatile refining margins have become a factor in 2012.

Still, the company’s integrated structure, which in recent years was bolstered by the addition of two refineries in Ohio, has meant that weak pricing for heavy oil production can be counteracted in the processing of the crude, Chief Executive Asim Ghosh said.

Husky is a dominant producer of heavy crude in Western Canada and also runs an 82,000 barrel a day plant that upgrades it into refinery-ready light oil.

This month, discounts for Canadian heavy and light synthetic oil have widened to the largest in several years as industry-wide production has surged against a backdrop of limited pipeline capacity for export. Heavy crude has sold for as much as $35.50 a barrel under benchmark West Texas Intermediate this week, about double the discount of a month ago.

“We firmly believe in the merits of a balanced portfolio and internal hedges,” Ghosh said. “I think that diversification of the portfolio has proven to be a moderating factor in our results over the past year, and as we get more and more focused on creating those balances, we just want to (protect) the company from such volatilities.”

Husky, controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, said net income jumped to C$408 million ($410 million), or 42 Canadian cents a share, from C$139 million, or 16 Canadian cents, a year earlier.