Airlines operate in such a brutally competitive market that it’s sometimes tempting to view them as an undifferentiated group. The most richly valued of the big three US carriers, United Continental Holdings Inc., trades on a forward price-earnings ratio of 9.8; the cheapest, Delta Air Lines Inc., is on 8.7. The clustering is even tighter in China, where Beijing-based …

  Bloomberg Four years ago, Canada’s government tried to keep state-owned companies out of Alberta’s oil sands. Now, they may be around for a while. ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc decided this month to sell most of their oil sands to Cenovus Energy Inc. and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. That leaves firms such as China’s Cnooc …

  Bloomberg Cenovus Energy Inc. plans to raise about C$1.8 billion ($1.35 billion) from property sales as it seeks to offset the cost of its C$17.7 billion purchase of ConocoPhillips’ Canadian oil assets, according to people familiar with the matter. The Calgary-based producer has hired Bank of Montreal to advise on the sale of its Suffield oil and natural gas …