OTTAWA - Ottawa has given its blessing to the sale of properties. R- a+ R) e0 p8 D9 p3 L+ A
owned by Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. to a Chinese company.7 O& S) l2 F* b! D! r% _1 e
Federal Industry Minister Tony Clement says he has reviewed the & l6 V; V7 Q; i! b1 t- }. H1 Rdeal between Athabasca and PetroChina International Investment Co. 5 I0 A7 d0 @5 r: \0 yLtd. and finds its is likely to be of net benefit to Canada. 1 R$ G% e$ z* p' ?0 p) @ Clement says PetroChina and its parent, PetroChina Co. Ltd., have * t! C8 o% N+ N0 tmade a number of significant commitments should they be allowed to 0 Z/ X/ M( T# o% Y- Wacquire control of the MacKay and Dover oil sands projects. ( } c& m T/ R5 c- N+ {2 J+ s Among other things, the Chinese concerns have agreed to capital( I2 P& {0 P1 W; G! `0 A
expenditures in excess of $250 million for developing the properties , o! P4 S* d: B4 T$ pover the next three years. 1 d% m/ Y% d/ _# F: K& F They have also pledged to increase employment levels in Canada as 1 Q6 L+ D+ z- x9 _- N$ ~they develop the projects over the next three years and to maintain/ t1 _$ g' e( c' U
an Alberta head office for operating companies associated with the + t0 E) R0 L* w8 {' Pprojects for the next five years. * e' h# L) U9 P/ y% `( o1 f (The Canadian Press)