Monday 15 April 2013

Centrica & Qatari firm $1bn oil and gas buy

British energy giant Centrica and Middle Eastern firm Qatar Petroleum International (QPI) have buying an oil and gas business in Canada for $1billion (£650m) in cash.

The pair announced today they will buy the majority of US firm Suncor Energy’s business in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.

The assets overlap with some of Centrica’s existing fields and power plants in oil and gas power centre of Calgary. Centrica will operate and own 60% of the business and QPI will have a 40% share.

Centrica, the parent company of UK supplier British Gas also has six million residential and commercial customers in North America with its firm Direct Energy.

Wes Morningstar, Senior Vice President for Centrica in Calgary said: "Growing our upstream gas operations is an important step to ensuring the company is a solid long-term partner to millions of residential and business customers across North America."

Nasser Al-Jaidah, Chief Executive Officer of QPI said the deal was a step towards the nation “expanding our business beyond our borders”.

The deal depends on regulatory approval including the Canadian Competition Act and the Investment Canada Act and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2013.