Encana Corp, Canada's largest natural-gas producer, said it has sold its exploration assets in Chad to a unit of China National Petroleum Corp for about US$202.5 million.

The assets include seven sedimentary basins, the Calgary-based company said. EnCana, which said it drilled 11 exploration wells in the African country since 2002, is selling assets to concentrate on natural-gas wells in North America and oil-sands projects in northern Alberta in Canada.

Selling properties in Chad and northern Canada would raise "several hundred million dollars," Chief Executive Officer Randy Eresman said in a conference call on October 25.In February 2006, EnCana sold its oil and pipeline holdings in Ecuador for US$1.42 billion to a Chinese joint venture of China National Petroleum and China Petrochemical Corp.

Chinese companies are buying oil fields around the globe to secure oil supply for the fastest-expanding major economy in the world. Oil demand in China, the second-largest consumer after the United States, may rise 5.6 percent to 6.98 million barrels a day this year, the International Energy Agency predicted last month.

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