A joint venture of companies owned by India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. (ONGC) and the China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) has closed the acquisition of a company holding producing assets in Syria from Petro-Canada, Calgary, (Toronto: PCA; NYSE: PCZ) for C$676 million. These interests represent production of some 58,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and 66.3 million barrels equivalent of proved reserves before royalties or 24.2 million barrels equivalent of proved reserves after royalties. The assets represented less than 4% of Petro-Canada's consolidated earnings from operations. The assets are operated by the Al Furat Petroleum Co., a company owned by the Syrian Petroleum Co., Syria Shell Petroleum Development BV and Petro-Canada. The acquired assets include a 37.5% interest in the Deir Ez Zor service contract and its associated annexes, a 33.3% interest in the Ash Sham Contract and its associated annexes, a 36% interest in gas utilization agreement and associated interests in deep and lateral agreements. The remaining interests in these contracts are held by Syria Shell Petroleum Development. Petro-Canada initiated a review of this portion of its production portfolio in early 2005 as part of its ongoing portfolio management. Harrison Lovegrove & Co. Ltd. was advisor to Petro-Canada.