In 1976, the Canadian government sponsored the creation of Petro–Canada as a vehicle for Canadian oil and gas policy and, as it put it at the time, "a window on the oil and gas industry in Canada." Since then Petro–Canada has grown into the second–largest oil company in Canada, with assets worth C$6.5 billion, principally by acquiring the Canadian subsidiaries of multinational oil companies such as Fina, BP, and Gulf. In 1985, the government abandoned interventionist policies and deregulated the energy sector. In 1991 and 1995, the government equity in Petro–Canada was reduced through public share offerings to 20 percent.