Crude shock lands oil majors on a slick

Experts say despite past irrational overseas investments, spending may well continue as good deals are still possible

The year-end retreat by China Investment Corp, the country's sovereign wealth fund, from Canada's mining and oil-and-gas sectors, has raised concerns that past overseas investments of State-backed oil companies may prove duds, due to the prolonged slump in crude oil prices.

After a string of bad investments overseas, CIC shifted its only office outside China from Toronto to New York at the end of 2015. The Toronto office used to manage CIC's investments in the energy sector. Since 2010, CIC invested about $1.9 billion in Canada's oil sands sector. Five years on, those investments are believed to have slipped into sharp losses.