While a president of state-owned PetroChina made the pitch, another Chinese executive said his country hopes to supply Canada with some of the pipe that could gain the Asian giant better access to Alberta oilsands bitumen.

Luke Lu echoed Yao Wei, president of PetroChina Pipelines, in saying his country's pipeline manufacturing sector needs Canadian expertise to produce safer, more reliable systems.

And Lu, with an equipment subsidiary of PetroChina, said he hopes those partnerships with Canadian firms will mean more Chinese pipe being laid in Alberta.

"I'm quite confident in the future, our pipeline from factories in China will come to Canada," Lu said at the International Petroleum Conference (IPC).

Earlier, in a speech to hundreds of delegates, PetroChina's Yao said his country needs Canadian expertise in raising the standards of Chinese pipelines that too often break or leak.

"We still need to meet the challenges associated with lack of technologies, standard regulations, management expertise and improvement of employee qualification," Yao said, adding China expects to double its pipeline capacity in a decade by adding 100,000 km.

Canada's spy agency, CSIS, has warned that foreign state-owned companies that buy up significant portions of Canada's oilpatch threaten the sovereignty and security of this country by gaining access to sensitive technology and strategic resources.

Chinese oil companies have invested billions of dollars into the Alberta oilpatch, and one of them is seeking to purchase Calgary-based Nexen Inc.

Lu scoffed at those concerns, saying such partnerships are a routine route to global economic development.

"We're trying to get into the international market as a partner," he said.

"It's for mutual benefit for China, for Canada."

Yao's PetroChina message at the IPC should be taken seriously, said Paul Miller, senior vice-president of oil pipelines for TransCanada Pipelines.

"I think he conveyed it as a very progressive company and a world-class company," Miller said.

"It's a growing economy -- it's a good opportunity for Canada to nurture future trade with China."