Sunday, April 21, 2013

" OTHER" Projects Open Up For Chinese Investments Here In Canada

Chinese Companies Forbidden from Investing in Oil Sands, but Other Projects OK’d


Canadian Trade Minister Ed Fast, visiting Beijing, has officially confirmed that Ottawa will welcome further continued investment from Chinese energy companies. "Chinese investors looking for stability, innovation, low taxes and an excellent North American platform and gateway need look no further than Canada," he said, as quoted by the Globe and Mail. CNOOC recently bought the oil-sands operator Nexen for $15.1 billion, the largest single foreign acquisition by any Chinese company year. Despite Prime Minister Stephen Harper's statement that further…Read more...

   

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  • TORONTO — Debate over the role of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the oil-and-gas industry has been a big and emotional one and led to new restrictions in the oil sands. But a senior executive at one of China’s largest oil companies said future investment in Canada still boils down to one much more basic criterion: Does it make money?
  • OTTAWA – In September, two months after China’s state-owned CNOOC Ltd. made an unexpected $15.1-billion bid for Canadian energy company Nexen Inc., Canada’s spy agency told ministers that takeovers by Chinese companies may threaten national security. The rare warning from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), which was disclosed to Reuters by intelligence sources, did not stop the takeover. That was approved by Canadian authorities earlier this month.
  • CALGARY — China’s CNOOC Ltd. has a business as usual gameplan for Nexen Inc., the Canadian oil and gas company it acquired despite a hostile reaction from Canadians. Li Fanrong, CEO and president of Beijing-based CNOOC, said he respects Canada’s concerns about the $15.1-billion takeover, but argued that China’s main energy companies are run as independent entities and are listed in Hong Kong and New York, answering to their shareholders primarily in Europe, the U.S. and Asia.
  • Acquisitive Japanese trading houses will find the course clear of some of their toughest competitors in the race for Canadian energy assets after Ottawa said it would bar state-owned companies from taking majority stakes in oil sands assets. Japan’s “Shosha”, giant trading companies with stakes in supply lines for everything from noodles to natural gas, have snapped up global energy assets in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The strong yen and soft government financing have helped bankroll the shopping spree.
  • Last December the energy world made a much-anticipated tectonic shift when Chinese net oil imports exceeded those of the United States, making the Asian giant the world’s largest oil importer. Closer to home, China replaced the United Kingdom last year as Canada’s second-largest trading partner after the United States. The recent evolution of the Investment Canada Act gives them [the Chinese] a little bit of a pause to think about
  • CALGARY — After months of uncertainty, market and industry players expressed relief Friday that Canada has approved two watershed energy takeovers by foreign state-controlled enterprises, even if the public backlash they stirred will mean tougher rules in the future and a new prohibition on such takeovers in the oilsands.
  • The document also briefs Harper on Sinopec’s proposed $1.5-billion acquisition 49% of the U.K. assets of Calgary- based Talisman Energy Inc. Sinopec doesn’t require Canada’s approval to complete the deal Cnooc Ltd.’s US$15.1-billion takeover of Nexen Inc. would give the Chinese company the largest stake of an oil field in the North Sea that “has increasingly influenced” global oil prices, according to a memo sent to Prime Minister Stephen Harper by Canada’s top government worker.
  • The Conservative party is divided on what to do about Chinese investment. OTTAWA — The Canadian government is still mulling its options as deadlines near on two proposed foreign takeovers of domestic energy companies, but an official offered no clues on when or how Ottawa would announce the hotly debated decisions.
  • Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he will toughen investment rules for foreign state-owned companies after approving bids by CNOOC and Petroliam Nasional Bhd. Canada will no longer allow state-owned companies to takeover businesses in the nation’s oil sands and will toughen requirements in other industries. Today, he approved CNOOC’s $15.1-billion takeover of Nexen and Petronas’s $5.2-billion takeover of Progress Energy Resources Corp. In a press conference, Harper said those two transactions are the end of a “trend.”
  • Cnooc Ltd. reported 2012 profit that missed analyst estimates as China’s biggest offshore oil producer spent more to explore and revive stalled output growth. Net income fell to 63.7 billion yuan ($10.3 billion) in the 12 months ended Dec. 31 from 70.3 billion yuan a year earlier, the company said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange today. That compared with the 65.3 billion yuan mean of 29 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales climbed 2.8 percent to 247.6 billion yuan.

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