Chevron looks to unload more Western Canada assets to bolster cash reserves

CALGARY – Chevron Canada Ltd. is testing the waters for a possible sale of its non-core refining and marketing assets in Western Canada.

A company spokesman said Friday that Chevron has asked for expressions of interest on the company’s 57,000-barrel-a-day Burnaby, B.C., refinery as well as its marketing assets, but that no final decision has been made to sell.

The request for interest does not cover Chevron’s lubricants business, its stake in the Kitimat LNG project, or upstream producing assets, the spokesman said.

The potential sales follow Chevron’s offloading of two gas storage facilities in B.C., including Aitken Creek — the largest in the province — to Fortis Inc. for US$266 million earlier this spring.

Chevron says the sales are part of its target to bring in between $5 billion and $10 billion from asset sales over the next two years to generate needed cash and streamline its portfolio.

On Friday, Reuters reported that Suncor Energy Inc. was looking to auction off its Petro-Canada lubricants division in Ontario in a sale that could bring in about $800 million.

A Suncor spokeswoman declined to comment on the rumoured sale but said the company has disclosed that it is looking to divest some non oil producing assets.

The company said in its latest quarterly update that it expects the non-producing asset sales to bring in between $1 billion and $1.5 billion over the next year.