Canada Says It Needs Foreign Capital to Develop Its Oil
Canada does not have enough money to develop its oil resources and move oil to market, and therefore welcomes foreign capital, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said on Tuesday.
Oliver was answering a reporter’s question about a $15.1 billion bid by China’s CNOOC Ltd to buy Canadian oil producer Nexen Inc, and the possibility of state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corp doing a joint venture in Canada’s oil sands with Athabasca Oil Corp.
“I don’t want to talk about that specific proposal because it will also be reviewed by the ministry, however we know that we have a need for an immense amount of capital to build the infrastructure necessary to develop the resources and move the resources to the market,” he said. “We don’t have enough capital in this country and so we are welcoming capital from the outside.”
Resource investment in Canada could be worth some C$650 billion ($658.9 billion) over the next 10 years, representing over 600 projects that are planned or underway, Oliver said in a speech at an investment bank in Toronto’s financial district.
“Those numbers are just the beginning,” he added. “Countries in the Asia-Pacific region are hungry for energy and minerals and metals and forest products they need to fuel growth and build a better quality of life for their citizens.”