Two months after pulling out of plans to build Britain’s first new nuclear plants in a generation, Centrica and its Qatari partners today invested C$1 billion (£639 million) in a package of Canadian natural gas assets.
It’s the first acquisition by Centrica, owner of British Gas, and Qatar Petroleum International since the pair signed a memorandum of understanding to co-operate on energy investment in December 2011.
The energy giant and the Qataris have bought natural gas and crude oil assets plus infrastructure in south and central Alberta and in northeast British Columbia from Calgary’s Suncor Energy. Centrica will hold 60%, and QPI the remaining 40% of the assets which will be enough to power one million homes each year.
But critics condemned the energy giant for organising a string of foreign deals — just last month it announced a £10 billion deal to buy gas from the US — after ripping up plans to build a fleet of nuclear plants in the UK to secure future energy supplies. Instead of investing in British plants, Centrica handed back £500 million to shareholders.
“We believe that the company should remain wary of political risks around its UK energy retail customer base,” said Martin Brough, energy analyst at Deutsche Bank. “We do not expect UK politicians to give the group much credit for taking capital to invest in Canadian gas, rather than new UK nuclear or renewables generation.”
Buying fields in North America helps the energy giant to secure supplies as output from the North Sea declines: fracking in the US has created a glut of fuel and sent prices plunging.
Centrica’s chief executive Sam Laidlaw said: “The acquisition provides attractive returns in a region we know well, and significantly increases the size and quality of our portfolio.”
