A joint venture of companies owned by India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. (ONGC) and the China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) plan to acquire a company holding producing assets in Syria from Petro-Canada, Calgary, (Toronto: PCA; NYSE: PCZ) for C$676 million. The sale is retroactive to July 1, 2005, and is expected to close in early 2006. "The sale of these mature assets aligns with our strategy to increase the proportion of long-life and operated assets within our portfolio," says Peter Kallos, executive vice president, international. "Syria remains an important part of our North Africa/Near East producing region, with an active exploration program in Block II and the continued pursuit of new opportunities." These interests represent production of some 58,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and 66.3 million barrels of oil equivalent of proved reserves before royalties or 24.2 million barrels of oil equivalent of proved reserves after royalties. "While these assets contribute significant volume, they represent less than 4% of Petro-Canada's consolidated earnings from operations," says Kallos. The assets are operated by the Al Furat Petroleum Co., a company owned by the Syrian Petroleum Co., Syria Shell Petroleum Development BV and Petro-Canada. The assets to be acquired include a 37.5% interest in the Deir Ez Zor Service Contract and its associated annexes, a 33.3% interest in the Ash Sham Contract and its associated annexes, a 36% interest in the Gas Utilization Agreement and an associated interests in the deep and lateral agreement. The remaining interests in these contracts are held by Syria Shell Petroleum Development. Petro-Canada initiated a review of this portion of its production portfolio in early 2005 as part of its ongoing portfolio management. Harrison Lovegrove and Co. Ltd. was advisor to Petro-Canada.