Posted on 01/06/2012 8:12:42 PM PST by Olog-hai
CALGARY—Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. said it was selling a 40% stake in one of its oil-sands prospects to PetroChina Co., a move that for the first time will give full ownership of such a project to a Chinese company.
Athabasca is selling its remaining interest in the MacKay River project in northern Alberta to PetroChina for C$680 million, or US$666 million. In 2010, Athabasca sold 60% stakes in MacKay and a separate development, Dover, to PetroChina for C$1.9 billion. …
Canada holds the world's third-largest reserves of oil. Most of those are oil-sands—essentially a mix of bitumen and quartz sand—located in the western Canadian province of Alberta. Oil-sands output has grown quickly, and Alberta and Canadian officials have sought out new markets.
That has particularly been the case after the U.S. State Department late last year delayed a decision on a pipeline proposed to carry oil from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
The government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said it would actively market its oil to Asian buyers, including China. The Canadian government has said it backs the construction of another pipeline running from Alberta to the Pacific, where oil could be loaded onto tankers bound for Asia. …
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
If the U.S. doesn’t want the oil from the oil sands (you did have first refusal), why shouldn’t Canada sell it to a willing buyer? In what way is this even remotely an abandonment of conservatism?
Selling to one’s enemy is an abandonment of conservatism. China regards all non-communists as enemy territory to be taken over by any means. They’re certainly happy about a wedge being between Canada and the USA, which makes such things easier for them; now Canada is being exploited by China just like the Congo is.
Are you proposing we close down the international stock market??? How dumb, we owe china trillions and you think a stock transaction for a little bitty company for a 40% share is something.
I HOPE they CHANGE their mind. FUBHO!
Yet one more success for the Comrade In Chief!
this should never have happened.
Sorry Swee'Pea. "should" ain't "is."
So you’re saying that China is part of “the West”?
Someone is deeply confused here, the first sell to china was in 2010. What does that have to do with the current pipe line. And what percentage of the oil fields does this company control.
I wonder if BC will have a say in this pipeline? If Gasoline is over $4 by election day and we aren't going to have our pipeline this will defeat Obama.
Money talks, BS walks. No abandonment of conservatism, it’s embracing it. The Chinese want to pay money for a pipeline we won’t build, then fine, take the money.
The Canadians would have been perfectly happy to sell it to us. We refused. They’ve spent money to get a product ready to bring to market. So you expect their businessmen to take a loss out of...what? Dislike of the Chinese? Some sort of “higher moral purpose?”
I don’t know what planet you live on but that doesn’t happen on mine. That’s why our industry left for China. We taxed, regulated, sued and unionized it out of the country. Either the company moves or sells to the Chinese, or goes out of business to the company that does. You may not like it, but that’s the way the world has always worked and always will.
How does it feel to live in a destroyed country fellow American’s?
Dang oil is a world wide commodity, the chinese will buy it where they can get it the cheapest including transpportation. Currently they are getting deep discounts from iran. Buying the canadian company stock is just another business investment, and has nothing to do with the pipe line since the first purchase was in 2010.
Well stated.
I can’t help but wonder if this backfired on the Big O. Maybe he thought by putting off a decision, he could retain the union AND green vote.
Sadly, we will all suffer for his incompetence.
To quote a Star Trek character I once read in a book:
“Klingons are ruthless, vindictive and savage bastards but on the other hand, they pay their bills on time and in full. By Ferengi standards, we can accept such idiosyncrasies so long as there’s profit to be made.”
Rule of acquisition 21: “Never place friendship before profit”
That’s fine. When Russia starts flexing their muscles in the Arctic (Hello Losmonov Ridge), and Canada is looking for someone to support their claim, maybe they can call China?
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