Yang Hua, of Beijing-based CNOOC
(China National Offshore Oil Corp),
is excited with their low-cost entry into Canada's oilsands.
"CNOOC plans to learn about the advanced technology
and expertise of oilsands development",
added Fu Chengyu.

CHINA'S FOOT IN OIL SANDS DOOR

"It's a first step for China, it probably won't be the last.
It's a toe-hold, a foot in the door".

A depiction of the red flag of China, under the words CHINA FLEXES MUSCLE IN CANADA, blared across the top third of the front page of the financial section of one of Canada's two national newspapers today. It's as though our newspapers are working for the Communist Chinese the way they always so uncritically and exhuberantly announce the ongoing takeover of Canada by that brutal regime.

Our resources are being devoured by our enemy and not a comment is made by the politicians who are instead distracting the masses with local pork-barrel corruption and upcoming election talk.

The thriving oilsands company that sold a stake to the Chinese and a seat on their board said they needed some financing. No doubt the money the Chinese are using to buy in isn't even their own. It's usually borrowed from western sources. The article closes by saying that the government of Canada will be approving - without review - the oilsands sale to China. But that's not surprising. Afterall, Canada's Prime Minister for decades, Pierre Trudeau, opened our door to China way back when, and his like-minded "mandarins" (elites who own politicians) are still running government now. ~ Jackie Jura

GIANT REACHES OUT: CNOOC leads the way into Alberta oilsands
Buys stake in MEG Energy
Claudia Cattaneo, Financial Post, Apr 13, 2005

CALGARY - CNOOC Ltd., China's third-largest oil producer, made that country's first investment in Alberta's oilsands yesterday, scooping up a 16.7% stake in closely held startup MEG Energy Corp. for $150-million. Observers said the deal, which gives the Chinese a toehold in the booming sector, will be followed by others. China's two other state controlled oil companies, PetroChina and Sinopec, have also been in discussions with various oilsands players. "It's a first step for China, it probably won't be the last," said Robert Ebel, director of the energy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "They see this as a foot in the door, an opportunity to learn what the oilsands business is all about. How do you get educated at a minimum cost and minimum risk? You buy into a small company and that gives you a chance to understand the business."

With the investment, Beijing-based CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Corp.), the top Chinese offshore oil producer, becomes the second-largest shareholder in MEG after Warburg Pincus, a large New York-based fund manager in New York. Quebec fund manager CDP Capital is another major investor in the pure oilsands play. "I'm excited with our low-cost entry into oilsands," Yang Hua, chief financial officer of CNOOC, said in a statement. CNOOC plans to learn about the advanced technology and expertise of oilsands development, added Fu Chengyu, chairman and chief executive of CNOOC. It hopes to use the skills it learns here to exploit oilsand and shale reserves in China, he said.

Dale Hohm, MEG's chief financial officer, said the investment does not make CNOOC a partner or entitle it to the project's oil production. "We have the expertise and the management to develop the project on our own," he said. "All we have been seeking is financial investors. CNOOC are not in the day-to-day management of the project, but they do have representation on the board." One of MEG's 10 directors will be picked by the Chinese.

China, the world's second-largest energy consumer, has been scouring the world to secure energy supplies, but its oil companies have been frustrated in their efforts. CNOOC lost out in the bidding earlier this month for U.S. producer Unocal Corp., which was purchased by U.S. rival ChevronTexaco Corp. for US$16.4-billion. "Most of the big projects are in the hands of the major companies," Mr. Ebel said. "So the pickings left for them are pretty small. It's not that people don't want them around. There is just nothing available, unless you are willing to put big bucks on the table. But they are not willing to do that."

Peter Tertzakian, chief energy economist at ARC Financial Corp., said the Chinese are interested in the oilsands because it's one of the last great oil frontiers to be developed. "It's geopolitically consistent with a country that is trying to secure oil supplies to fuel its future growth. The British did it early last century, the Americans did it after the Second World War, and now we are seeing China do it," he said. "It's something to watch very closely, to see how their strategy evolves." The Chinese want to lock up physical supplies, rather than buy oil in the futures market, because it gives them more confidence they are secure, he said. MEG owns 52 sections of oilsands leases with two billion barrels of recoverable oil northeast of EnCana Corp.'s Christina Lake project. First commercial production of 25,000 barrels a day is expected in 2008 at a cost of $500-million to $1-billion. The project can be expanded to produce 140,000 b/d in the next 10 years. CNOC's investment is unlikely to be reviewed under Canada's foreign investment rules because it is not a controlling interest.

...continued at CHINA TALONS IN CANADA OIL SANDS


CHINESE GULLIVER IN AMERICA

The Dark Magic of Oil Sands. FortuneMagazine, Oct 3, 2005 (Canada's Alberta province has oil reserves second only to Saudi Arabia's....China's investments in the sector, about $255 million, are little more than a dabble so far, but a proposed venture with Canadian pipeline builder Enbridge to pipe 400,000 barrels a day from Fort McMurray to a Pacific port is widely believed to have caught Washington's attention. In July, Treasury Secretary John Snow toured the area. In August a delegation of U.S. Senators paid a visit. And Vice President Dick Cheney had scheduled a September trip before Hurricane Katrina forced him to change plans. Canada sends two million barrels a day to the U.S., from both oil sands and conventional drilling sites. That accounts for almost 16% of U.S. imports and 99% of Canada's oil exports. As Robert Esser, director of global oil and gas resources at Cambridge Energy Research Associates, puts it, Canada is the only U.S.-friendly country on earth where lots more oil is expected to come online. The White House's 2001 report on national energy policy, spearheaded by Cheney, called Canada's oil sands "a pillar of sustained North American energy and economic security." In this context, the likelihood of increased Chinese investment -- possibly leading to an acquisition of Canada's Suncor Energy, the pioneer in oil-sands development and one of the last companies still up for grabs -- gives some observers pause. "If we have to share this oil with China, we are going to have to pick up the slack somewhere else," says Gal Luft, co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, a Washington think tank. "That will be the Mideast, and that becomes a national security issue."...)

"Nationalize oil & gas" say Canadians (& cut taxes & fix pump price). CBC, Sep 6, 2005

China's Hu to visit resource-rich Canada (looking for more sources of energy). Reuters, Sep 6, 2005

REMEMBER WHO HU IS (chief cop of China's police state chosen by cabal of Communists)

China on global hunt to quench its thirst for oil, SanFranChron, Jun 26, 2005
China's expanding oil interests. Chinese energy firms CNPC, Sinopec, CNOOC and PetroChina have spent billions of dollars on oil and gas production deals around the world during the past two years. Examples include: Angola, Sudan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Central Asia, Burma, Indonesia, Australia, Venezuela, Brazil, Canada, United States

China's Canadian Adventure (Chinese espionage & spy activities in energy & raw materials sectors). FrontPageMagazine, May 5, 2005. Go to 7.Systems of Thought & CHINA SPYING ON CANADA & USA

CHINADA'S SOVIETIZATION and CANADA'S RED TRUDEAU

TRUDEAU & CHINA (Trudeau served 4 terms as Canada’s PM between 1969 and 1984... maintained strong interest in China. In 1949, he travelled through China in the tumultuous months before the establishment of the People’s Republic... returned to China again in 1959 with his colleague Jacques Hebert, a visit chronicled in their 1961 book Two Innocents in Red China. After becoming PM in 1968, he placed a greater priority on Canada’s relations with China which led to establishment of diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China in 1970. In 1973, Pierre Trudeau became the first Canadian Prime Minister to visit China.

Jackie Jura
~ an independent researcher monitoring local, national and international events ~

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