British Gas owner Centrica and Qatar Petroleum International (QPI) are buying a package of oil and natural gas assets in Canada from Suncor for $1 billion (£617 million).

The bundle includes gas fields, 1 million acres of undeveloped land, a large seismic database and gas processing plants.

Based in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, they are already pumping out fuel, with production in 2013 predicted to hit roughly 250 million cubic feet equivalent per day. Proven and probable reserves are estimated to contain 978 billion cubic feet equivalent, with most of this (90%) made up of natural gas.

The newly formed Direct Energy Resources Partnership – owned by Centrica (60%) and QPI (40%) – is buying the bundle of land and wells which Centrica will operate.

Wes Morningstar, Senior Vice President at Centrica Energy Canada said: “In partnership with QPI, we have a great base on which to build here in Canada and this new deal provides exciting development opportunities for our projects and our talented team of people”.