Sunshine Oilsands, the first Canadian oil-sands operator to list shares on the Hong Kong exchange, is in "advanced" talks with joint-venture partners to boost production to a potential 1 million barrels a day.
Sunshine, whose shares have slumped 47 per cent since its Hong Kong trading debut in February last year, was in talks with "more than two and less than 10" investors, chief executive John Zahary said.
The company is betting its ownership structure, which includes several large Chinese investors, along with the Hong Kong listing, will give it access to the capital it needs to develop its 487,000 hectares of leases in Alberta, potentially making it one of the largest oil-sands producers.
"We have the ability to do different things with different people," Zahary said. "We need capital, they have capital, and this creates an opportunity for us."
Discussions had been with global companies that had expressed interest publicly in getting bigger or entering the oil-sands business, and those that had not publicly said anything, Zahary said.
The company's largest Chinese shareholders include Sinopec, China Investment Corp, and China Life Insurance Overseas.