Sinopec has made its largest ever venture into Canada by acquiring oil-sands producer Syncrude Canada from ConocoPhillips for US$4.65bn, marking the largest Asian oil company investment in Canada's oil sands to date. 

The acquisition was led by Sinopec’s in-house team, headed by general counsel Shao Jingyang. Blake, Cassels & Graydon, one of Sinopec’s long-term legal advisors, was engaged by the acquirer as its sole outside counsel. The firm advised Sinopec on oil & gas, transactional, environmental and competition law. Blake Cassels has had a lengthy history of working with Sinopec, having previously worked with Sinopec with their first foray into Canada – the Northern Lights Project.

Also working on the matter are in-house counsels at ConocoPhillips Canada, including vice president-corporate services Graham Vanhegan and chief counsel and Angela Avery.

The Syncrude acquisition means that Sinopec joins domestic counterpart PetroChina in acquiring stakes in Canadian producers of oil locked in sand. PetroChina won approval from the Canadian government last year to buy a stake in Athabasca Oil Sands Corp’s MacKay and Dover oil-sands projects for US$1.9bn.

Spending by Chinese companies on mining and energy acquisitions reached a record US$32bn last year, Sinopec being one of the major players. Its deal activities have caught they eye of many and have kept many law firms busy over the past 18 months, especially Vinson & Elkins. Last year, Sinopec turned to Vinson & Elkins for both its US$8bn acquisition of Calgary-based Addax and its US$1.9bn takeover of Toronto-listed Tanganyika.

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter, pending regulatory approvals in both China and Canada.

Sinopec’s in-house team is staffed with 31 legal counsels located in its headquarters and 1,375 counsels in subsidiaries.

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