CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Petro-Canada will not give up a stake in its oil sands operations in order to acquire refining capacity to process the tar-like bitumen to be produced at its planned Fort Hills oil sands mine, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

Ron Brenneman, chief executive of Canada’s No. 4 integrated oil exploration and refining firm, said the company was not interested in forming a joint venture with a U.S. refiner.
The company would more likely buy, or invest in, a refiner with the coking capacity needed to process some of the 160,000 barrels per day of bitumen the Fort Hills oil sands mine in Alberta will produce, Brenneman said.