CALGARY - The Canadian government said it will sell its remaining 19 percent interest in Petro-Canada (PCA.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) , one of the country's biggest oil producers and refiners.
The share sale will spell the end of Ottawa's financial relationship with the company it created amid the energy crises of three decades ago as a "window" on the then mostly foreign-controlled oil and gas industry.
Here are some facts about Petro-Canada.
Headquarters: Calgary, Alberta.
Chief executive: Ron Brenneman
Employees: 4,500
Main operations: North American natural gas production; oil production off Newfoundland; Alberta oil sands developments; exploration and production in the North Sea, Middle East, North Africa and South America; refining and gasoline retailing across Canada.
Stock market capitalization: C$16.6 billion ($12.9 billion).
Listings: Toronto Stock Exchange (symbol PCA), New York Stock Exchange (symbol PCZ)
Second-quarter results: profit of C$393 million, or $1.48 a share, up 36 percent from the same period in 2003 before unusual items. Overall oil and gas production of 455,200 barrels of oil equivalent a day.
History: The Liberal government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau creates Petro-Canada as a state-owned company in 1975, and it quickly starts embarking on a series of acquisitions aimed at "Canadianizing" what is a mostly foreign-owned oil industry. Many Albertans, traditionally at odds with Ottawa on energy issues, are upset with state control.
With the energy crises over, the Conservative government of Brian Mulroney sells first shares to the public in 1991 in a series of moves to mend fences in Western Canada. The company is freed to operate as any other publicly traded enterprise.
In 1995, Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien launches a secondary offering of 50 percent of the company's shares, cutting Ottawa's stake to 20 percent. Petro-Canada acquires Germany's Veba Oil & Gas in 2002, giving it operations in 10 countries outside Canada. In the spring of 2004, it acquires a 30 percent interest in the Buzzard oil field in the North Sea and U.S. gas producer Prima Energy.
Ralph Goodale, finance minister in the new government of Prime Minister Paul Martin, announces in his March 2004 budget that Ottawa plans to sell its remaining stake in the current fiscal year, with proceeds earmarked for development of environmental technology.
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