BP sells Canadian assets to Apache

HOUSTON -- BP said July 20 it is selling properties in Alberta and British Columbia worth US$3.25 billion to Apache Corporation to help pay for the cleanup and to cover compensation claims from its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The sale is part of a $7-billion asset deal with Apache.

The other properties include BP's oil and natural gas operations, acreage and infrastructure in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico for $3.1 billion, and in Egypt's Western Desert. The Egyptian assets sold for about $650 million.

The properties have total proven reserves equivalent to 385 million barrels of oil, of which the Canadian assets account for 224 million.

BP agreed in June to set aside some assets as security while it builds up the $20-billion US compensation fund it promised the American government it would establish to pay for the damage caused by the massive spill at its ruptured oil well off the coast of Louisiana.

Shaw's Canwest takeover clears another hurdle

OTTAWA -- Canada's Competition Bureau has given the go-ahead for Shaw Communications to acquire 100 percent of the television assets of Canwest Global Communications.

All that stands in the way of Shaw completing a deal for the Global Television Network and various specialty channels is CRTC approval. A hearing is set for September.

The Ontario Superior Court, which was overseeing Canwest's restructuring, approved the deal in July clearing away the first hurdle toward acquisition.

The $2-billion deal will allow Canwest to emerge from bankruptcy protection and give Shaw, a western Canadian cable giant, 11 Global TV stations along with a number of highly profitable cable channels such as HGTV, the Food Network and Showcase.

Nortel loses US$1.5B

TORONTO -- Insolvent Nortel Networks Corp reported a second-quarter loss of US$1.5 billion on Aug 13.

The loss included the $1.4-billion cost of reorganization as the company sold most of its operations under a bankruptcy restructuring.

The former Canadian high tech power house said it lost $3.02 a share for the three months ended June 30, compared with a loss of $274 million or 55 cents a share in the year-earlier period.

Revenues fell to $145 million from just over $1 billion a year earlier, said the company, which reports in U.S. dollars.

Nortel began restructuring under bankruptcy protection from creditors more than 18 months ago and has sold almost all its operating businesses to various buyers for $3.2 billion.

The company says it preserved 13,000 jobs of former Nortel employees who now work with new companies.

RIM reaches deal with Saudi Arabia

WATERLOO -- Research in Motion has reportedly averted a ban on its BlackBerry communications services in Saudi Arabia in exchange for security concessions to the government.

Waterloo-based RIM has agreed to hand over user codes that would let Saudi authorities monitor its BlackBerry Messenger, Reuters News Agency Aug 10.

Reuters said RIM would share with Saudi Arabia the unique pin number and code for each BlackBerry registered there, allowing authorities to read encrypted text sent via Messenger, an instant messaging service that’s distinct from email sent on the BlackBerry that is so popular with its prized corporate and political customers.

Magna raises dividend as profits soar

AURORA, Ont -- Magna International Inc has raised its dividend for shareholders as profits and revenues jumped in the second quarter in the continuing recovery of the auto industry.

The board of the Aurora-based auto parts giant announced Aug 6 that it would bump up the quarterly dividend from 18 cents to 30 cents U.S. a share because of profitability and better expectations for vehicle production in North America and Europe.

The move came after Magna reported that net income shot up to $293 million in the three months ending June 30 from a loss of $205 million in the same period last year.

Shareholders recently voted in favour of a restructuring of the company’s share capital that would eliminate the B class of stock. Founder Frank Stronach has held and used all the multiple voting B shares to control the company for more than three decades. In exchange, a Stronach family trust would gain almost $1 billion in cash, stock and consulting contracts plus a stake in a joint electric car venture with Magna.

Alberta defends oilsands in ads

EDMONTON -- The province of Alberta has launched an advertising campaign aimed at improving the image of the oilsands.

The key Alberta industry is an increasingly frequent target of environmental groups who say that extracting oil from the sand produces too much greenhouse gas and scars the province's northern landscape.

Greenpeace demonstrators rappelled from the Calgary Tower on Aug 3, unfurling a banner denouncing what they say is a too-close relationship between the oilsands industry and government.

And in July, U.S.-based Corporate Ethics International unveiled billboards urging Americans to reconsider travel plans to Alberta because of the oilsands.

But a half-page ad in Aug 5’s Winnipeg Free Press paid for by the Alberta government counters that view.

The $268,000-campaign ran in Winnipeg because the provincial premiers are gathered there for a meeting of the Council of the Federation. The messages also also appeared in Alberta newspapers.

Shell Montreal refinery sale talks fail

MONTREAL -- Shell Canada said it's going ahead with plans to convert its Montreal refinery into a distribution terminal after announcing Aug 2 that negotiations with a potential buyer have fallen through.

Shell and Delek US Holdings, a subsidiary of Israeli oil giant Delek, issued a release saying that last-ditch talks had failed to resolve issues that led to a breakdown of negotiations earlier this year.

Shell had previously rejected a $420-million offer from Delek for the 77-year-old refinery, which employs 800 people, and the company's gas stations in Quebec and the Maritimes. Shell has been under considerable political pressure to find a buyer for the refinery instead of converting it to a distribution terminal, which would end up employing only about 30 people.