Suncor likes Petro-Canada offshore fields

Canadian giant Suncor Energy sees Petro-Canada's Canadian East Coast and North Sea assets as core non-oil sands holdings after Suncor completes its takeover of fellow Canadian giant Petro-Canada at the start of next month, Suncor boss Rick George said.

"My view going into this is those East Coast assets and the North Sea assets are key long-term keepers for us," Reuters quoted George as telling analysts.

George said that the priority for investments after the takeover will be given to projects offering the lowest risk, highest return and near-term cash flow, but he said he had not made decisions on divestitures.

He did cast doubt, however, on some of Petro-Canada's international assets.

"Risk will be a factor, and I know the market has not really liked, particularly, the risk around the Syrian and Libyan assets," he said.

"That's an equation that I haven't actually had time to completely analyse or make the decisions on."