Canadian Lawyer InHouse

CHINA Doing business with ANIHC ANIHC Chinese-Canadian relations have become big business for both countries and deals are evolving past that of the controversial state-owned enterprises. BY JENNIFER BROWN I f anyone understands the potential for Canadian business to benefit from China's evolution towards a more open market it's Joe Bradford. Bradford is vice president, joint ventures and legal, at CNOOC Canada Inc. Prior to the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Co. International's contentious $15-billion acquisition of Canadian oil and gas company Nexen Inc. earlier this year, his team was focused on managing CNOOC's 35-per-cent interest in the Long Lake, Kinosis, Cottonwood, and Leismer oil sand projects. They also provided legal assistance on matters related to CNOOC's interest in Northern Cross Yukon Ltd. and MEG Energy Corp. Following CNOOC International's acquisition of Nexen, they have been working to integrate CNOOC Canada's joint venture (which includes marketing, facilities, production, and commercial functions), exploration, and financial teams into Nexen Energy ULC. "Our goal is to have one unified team under Nexen Energy ULC's leadership," says Bradford. Bradford was formerly vice president, legal, with oil sands company OPTI Canada before it was acquired by CNOOC in November 2011. Since becoming part of CNOOC Canada, Bradford's focus has been on North America but he's visited CNOOC business units and sister companies in China, such as COSL, and had the chance to discuss their experience in international transactions and operations. Bradford spent all of last September in Beijing and met with delegations from Saskatchewan and Alberta. "I was impressed by the number of Canadian businesses who were in Beijing looking for opportunities to sell Canadian goods and services while at the same time encouraging Chinese companies to do business back in Canada," says Bradford. "Based on my experience, Canadian companies have a lot to offer China in the oil and gas, mining, agriculture, and financial services sectors." He says both politically and commercially, Canada is sending all the right signals to China. "I'm seeing that Chinese companies, particularly service companies, are making significant investments in time, personnel, and resources in their Canadian operations. I see this as very beneficial to the Canadian oil and gas sector as these Chinese enterprises are bringing with them some much-needed competition in the service sector." w w w. c a n a d i a n law y er m a g . c o m / i n h o u s e october 2013 • 21

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