China in auto power play
It might not shake up the industry just yet, but China's interest in Volvo and Saab is the start of something big in global autos, writes columnist Wei Gu. Commentary
Abu Dhabi's Taqa to buy Pioneer Canada
ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi National Energy Co TAQA.AD (Taqa) will buy Canadian oil and gas exploration company Pioneer Canada for $540 million, Taqa said in a statement on Thursday.
Pioneer Canada, a unit of U.S.-based Pioneer Natural Resources Co (PXD.N), will boost Taqa's oil and gas reserves by 59 million barrels and add more than 10,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in output, Taqa said.
Taqa is 75-percent owned by Abu Dhabi's government, which controls over 90 percent of the oil reserves of the United Arab Emirates. The company aims to boost assets to $60 billion by 2012 from over $15 billion at the end of the second quarter as part of Abu Dhabi's drive to use record oil revenues to diversify.
Taqa expects to close the Pioneer Canada buy during the fourth quarter of 2007. Taqa's shares rose 3.5 percent on the news.
The deal would provide Taqa with expertise in coal bed methane exploration and production, the company said.
Taqa Chief Executive Officer Peter Barker-Homek said last week it expected to spend as much as $3 billion over the next 12 months buying Canadian oil and gas producers. That would be about three-quarters of the $4 billion in acquisitions budgeted for the next year.
Taqa bought Pogo Producing Co's PPP.N Northrock Resources unit for $2 billion in May. Canada's political and fiscal stability and access to the U.S. market have attracted the company, Barker-Homek said.
