Encana has inked a $5.4-billion deal with PetroChina to acquire a 50 per cent stake in a portion of its natural gas operations in northern B.C. and Alberta.
The deal for Encana's Cutbank Ridge properties, which includes the Dawson Creek area north of Prince George, is meant to help the Calgary-based company develop natural gas reserves more quickly.
"By combining resources with PetroChina in this joint venture, we would expect to recognize additional value through accelerating our pace of development and by leveraging increased capital and operating efficiencies through further technical advancements and through greater certainty of the long-term development plan for the business assets," said Encana president and CEO Randy Eresman.
The Cutbank Ridge business has daily production of 255 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, however, it has additional proven reserves of one trillion cubic feet.
PetroChina is one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world, and has already made investments in the Alberta oilsands.
Asian companies have shown an increasing interest in northern B.C. natural resource development.
Enbridge said recently Sinopec is one of a consortium of producers and refiners that provided $100 million to push its controversial Northern Gateway oil pipeline through a regulatory process. Sinopec is the largest oil refiner in China.
An Asian company also purchased the shuttered Mackenzie pulp mill and restarted it. Chinese investors are also partners in Conifex, a new forest-sector player in northern B.C. that owns sawmills in Fort St. James and Mackenzie.
China-based Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group Holdings Co. has invested $22.9 million for a 36.5 per cent stake in Canada Zinc Metals which has has an exploration project north of Prince George.
