The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, Sept. 5, edition that Yanchang Petroleum Group is in a friendly $320-million (Canadian) deal to take over Novus Energy ($1.075). The Globe's Jeffrey Jones writes the deal is the first Canadian energy acquisition by a state-owned Chinese company since last year when CNOOC bid $15.1-billion (U.S.) for Nexen. Novus chief executive officer Hugh Ross says the takeover is just the start of a Canadian buying spree for Yanchang's international division. He says Yanchang is starting small and is keeping Novus management in place. Mr. Ross says, "We're going to aggressively grow Novus through a series of acquisitions and through aggressive drilling programs." He says Yanchang was not put off by tightened scrutiny on takeovers by state-owned enterprises that followed the Nexen deal. For Yanchang, the Novus deal is its entry to Canada. The Globe says given the deal's size it is more of a ripple than a splash. Raymond James analyst Luc Mageau says the move is clearly a beachhead from which to expand. Novus's main assets are in a region of Saskatchewan known as Dodsland, where it produces oil using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing methods.