(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-07-09 08:25

China National Petroleum Corp has bought the rights to explore for oil in Canada. The State-owned parent of Hong Kong- and New York-listed PetroChina Co will develop an oil-sands field that is estimated to contain about 2 billion barrels of a thick and hard-to-process form of oil called bitumen.

CNPC will join with two other Chinese oil companies, Sinopec Group and CNOOC Ltd, to invest in Canada's oil sands.

An official at CNPC unit China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Corp confirmed the company would explore for oil in Canada, but declined to elaborate. According to a statement posted by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce on its website, officials in the Canadian province of Alberta granted the company exploration rights for 11 fields covering a total area of about 260 square kilometers in January. Financial terms weren't disclosed.