PetroChina, Canada Ink Deal

Prices of light, sweet crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange are currently trading at half their peak hit in July last year. This has led some producers to postpone oil sands projects as they are capital-intensive and need crude futures above a certain threshold to be viable. US oil demand is also in the doldrums due to the global economic downturn, making it harder for producers to justify investments in new crude oil production. However, PetroChina has gone ahead with its investment in Canadian oil sands.