China invests $803m in Canadian oil sands project

China Investment Corporation has agreed to invest about US$803 million for a 45% stake in a new oil sands venture with Canada’s Penn West Energy Trust (PWE.NYSE, PWT.UN.TSX), Bloomberg reported. The Chinese sovereign wealth fund will pay US$305.4 million up front and US$494.3 million of Penn West’s future expenses. Penn West will contribute US$1.75 billion in assets to the venture, which will develop 237,000 acres of oil sands properties in northern Alberta, the location of the world’s largest crude deposits outside Saudi Arabia. CIC also signed a deal to purchase more than 23.5 million Penn West units, representing a 5% stake in the trust, for an estimated US$425 million. CIC announced last year it had US$110 billion for overseas investments and it would focus on commodities and property as protection against rising inflation. State-run Chinese companies spent a record US$32 billion last year acquiring overseas resources as the country’s oil demand rose.