Canada's Daylight sale completed
Canada has seen another of its major shale-oil producers come under Chinese control after the completion of Daylight Energy's sale.
The C$2.2bn (US$2.1bn) deal between Calgary-based Daylight Energy and China's Sinopec Group was finally completed at the end of 2012, having been first announced in October of the same year.
The sale significantly increases China's grip on Canada's oil and gas shale sand resources, with Daylight estimating reserves of 174mboe at the end of 2010, some 46% higher than previously stated, yielding approximately 35mb in Quarter three of that year.
Sinopec's largest rival, CNOOC, had already clearly stated its Canadian aspirations with the purchase of Opti Canada earlier in 2011. Although the purchase price was signficantly lower, at $34m, this did not include the $2.4bn of debt burden that CNOOC also accepted as part of the deal.
According to data from news agency, Bloomberg, the Canadian purchases are part of an $18.3bn overseas spend by Chinese companies on oil and gas exploration and production assets.
