Another China outfit to buy stake in Canada oil sands project

Another of China's largest oil concerns has acquired an equity interest in a Canadian company that plans a production project in the Alberta oil sands.

June 15, 2005

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, June 15 -- Another of China's largest oil concerns has acquired an equity interest in a Canadian company that plans a production project in the Alberta oil sands.

Sinopec Group paid $105 million for a 40% interest in Synenco Energy Inc.'s proposed $4.5 billion Northern Lights mining and upgrading project (OGJ, Apr. 25, 2005, p. 20). Northern Lights, with a project site northeast of Fort McMurray, is to produce its first hydrocarbons in 2010-11.

Meanwhile, CNOOC Ltd. paid $122 million for a 16.69% share of private MEG Energy Corp. MEG plans a 3,000 b/d steam-assisted gravity drainage pilot and a 22,000 b/d commercial SAGD project at Christina Lake (OGJ Online, Apr. 13, 2005). MEG is still raising capital and has yet to start construction.