Canada looks to Beijing for new oil sands investment
As IOCs flee, Ottawa hopes to lure Asian petrodollars back
International oil companies are retreating from Canada's oil sands. In the past year alone, Shell, Statoil, Total and ConocoPhillips have sold off tens of billions of dollars in major projects to Canadian operators. Just four domestic companies now control more than 70% of the country's oil sands output. That might sound like good news to the oil nationalists, but it raises the threat that the oil sands won't get the investment needed to continue to grow. In response, natural resources minister Jim Carr took a trip through China last week to promote investment in the oil sands, among other projects, to the country's major energy companies. "We would welcome investment from any nation that's
Also in this section
16 January 2026
The country’s global energy importance and domestic political fate are interlocked, highlighting its outsized oil and gas powers, and the heightened fallout risk
16 January 2026
The global maritime oil transport sector enters 2026 facing a rare convergence of crude oversupply, record newbuild deliveries and the potential easing of several geopolitical disruptions that have shaped trade flows since 2022
15 January 2026
Rebuilding industry, energy dominance and lower energy costs are key goals that remain at odds in 2026
14 January 2026
Chavez’s socialist reforms boosted state control but pushed knowledge and capital out of the sector, opening the way for the US shale revolution
