China complains of cold shoulder from Canada on oil deals

OTTAWA (AFP) – Chinese companies coveting Canada’s oil patch are unhappy about the chilly reception they are getting from Ottawa, a top Chinese oil executive told media Friday, after withdrawing from a Canadian pipeline project amid delays.

Song Yiwu, vice president of China National Petroleum Corp., the parent of PetroChina, said Ottawa should have done more to help along a four-billion dollar pipeline project linking Canada’s booming oil sands to a Pacific port.


Delays in starting the project reflected an unwillingness to allow Chinese firms into the Canadian markets, he said.

“The environment is not comfortable. We tried to come here and we can’t,” Song told the daily Globe and Mail during an investment conference in Calgary.

“We sincerely wanted to do something and open up a new market for Canadian crude, but Canada doesn’t want to open up its own markets to us. So we cannot cooperate, and I really don’t know how to help,” he said.

AFP