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The Centrica disposition, which does not include oilsands assets but does involve conventional properties in Western Canada, may offer some hints as to the future direction of foreign oilpatch investment.

Maple Felix’s partners include MIE Holdings Corp., a Hong Kong-based energy company that has been investing in Canada and will operate the business; Can-China Global Resource Fund, a Hong Kong-based private equity firm, and Mercuria Energy Group, a Swiss-based commodities trader.

While foreign capital is leaving the country, foreign capital — mainly from China, in this case — is also replacing it.

Data collected by the China Institute at the University of Alberta found new Chinese investment in Canadian energy companies last year reached $2.6 billion in 20 deals.

All of this is playing out against the backdrop of federal Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr musing Thursday about opening up the oilsands to additional Chinese investment, something the previous Conservative government tried to slow down.

“We would welcome more investment from any nation that’s interested in the oilsands,” the minister told reporters from China.

“As you know, we’re interested in looking at these cases one by one. Our minds are open. And we’ve found generally that Chinese investors are no different than investors from anywhere else. They look at costs, they look at prices, and they make their investment decisions.”

Carr’s comments could be the first crack for Ottawa to remove restrictions put in place by the Harper government in late 2012 to stop foreign state-owned enterprises from acquiring controlling interests in Canadian oilsands operations.