PetroChina looks to buy piece of Northern Gateway

Enbridge Inc. says China's biggest state-controlled oil company is interested in buying part of its proposed $5.5-billion Northern Gateway pipeline project and play a key role in building it, according to a report Thursday in the Financial Post.

Enbridge CEO Pat Daniels is quoted as saying PetroChina has expressed an interest in buying part of the project and helping build the controversial pipeline, which would move oilsands material from Alberta to the West Coast in order to ship it to overseas locations, including China.

"They have made the point to us that they are very qualified in building pipelines, and we will take that into consideration when we are looking for contractors," Daniel said in an interview with the Financial Post. "It's an open bid process. They are a very big organization, they build a lot of pipelines, and they would love to be involved, from what they have told me."

The article said PetroChina's workforce of almost two million people, with relatively low wages, would give it good chance of presenting a competitive bid for the building process.

Daniels said having PetroChina involved in this way shouldn't be seen as taking away employment opportunities from British Columbia residents.

"There are a lot of Chinese companies that do business in B.C., so I don’t think it would be new or unique," he said.

Sinopec, another Chinese state-owned oil company, already owns a stake in the Gateway project, which is currently under review by regulators. Canadian companies involved include Cenovus Energy Inc., MEG Energy Corp., Nexen Inc. and Suncor Energy Inc., and the Canadian subsidiary of France's Total SA is also a shareholder.