The Chinese have snagged the Canadian oil firm PetroKazakhstan.
(Another item from China E-Lobby that caught my eye; “Another Falun Gong practitioner deported: Unless someone knocked some sense into the British Home Office, practitioner Ling Na Rong was sent back to Communist China yesterday (Epoch Times). The Home Office “asserts that she does not face danger, as she is not a Falun Gong leader.” Have the bureaucrats in that office heard of the late Gao Rongrong? As the Epoch Times notes, she wasn’t a Falun Gong leader, either.”)
China’s economic miracle needs energy or it will fizzle so it’s no surprise that dedicated access to a nearby supply was acquired by purchasing PetroKaz. What’s interesting is that other countries haven’t jumped in to support their energy companies and give China more competition for those resources. After all, China’s economic engine is competing directly with other countries in the world like the U.S. (and the NA free trade zone), Europe and the rest of asia.
Those who have the best access to abundant energy are really the superpowers…economically anyways.
I saw this yesterday; however, the company’s assets are all in Kazakhstan so it’s not like they’ve bought a bunch of oilfields in northern AB. This kind of investment in “Canadian oil companies” is the kind I can live with – fork cash into Canada, then go away 😉
I wonder how much influence Jean Chretien had on the sale as a consultant with PetroKazakstan (PK).
http://www.forrelease.com/D20040203/ca020.P1.02032004115629.21577.html
AAAAAAHHHHH!
Very true Martin.B. The US pumps oil from the Gulf, however there is nil mention of vast reserves off both coasts.
These are the checkmate in the world chess game, while reserves elswhere are bought, sold and controlled.
Is this the burr under OBL’s saddle? 73s TG
Isn’t Maurice Stong the chairman mu of Petrocan -so it will be just a little matter of ‘going home’. I NEVER buy at Petrocan and I never will.
Damn that Chretien! I take back what I said earlier.
Yes, interesting how our beloved former PM — the architect of Canada’s Kyoto commitment — promptly went off to work for an oil company.
China also made a deal this summer with Enbridge (http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fg-chinaoil17jul17,1,4300137.story?coll=la-promo-world&track=northkorearail) to build a 200,000 bbl/d pipeline from the Edmonton area to the west coast to transport oil sands bitumen. All they need to do now is purchase an oil sands producing company or two to secure access to supply. But it’s not just PetroKaz, Unocal or even a minor piece of the Alberta tar sands…China’s appetite is much bigger than those. My guess is we’re just at the start of a huge energy shopping spree. Wonder if outsiders have the same access to buying stuff up inside China?
Funny how Communist China trusts us not to nationalise their investments here.
rebarbarian, do you think nationalizing oil companies would be a solution to preventing China from buying up Canadian oil corporations? Is it that big of a problem?
�In a recent poll, more than half of Canadian business leaders believe that people who speak more than one language have an easier time finding work. When asked to rank which languages are most and least important to business in the next decade, English came in first, with second place going to Chinese, and French as a close third. Spanish, Japanese, and German came in fourth, fifth, and sixth. Although bilingualism is viewed as an asset for job candidates, the French language is seen as more important in the federal government than in the Canadian business.�
National Post
2003