Canada’s industry minister is saying no to a proposal from Petronas, Malaysia’s state-owned oil company, to take over Canadian natural-gas producer Progress Energy.

The deal, which would have been worth more than $5 billion, may be a sign of things to come for a larger proposed takeover currently under review.

In a statement, Minister Christian Paradis said he was not satisfied that the offer from Petronas would result in a net-benefit to Canada.

The proposal was not widely expected to hit any regulatory road-bumps, so the decision may be a negative signal for the much larger attempted buy-out of Canadian gas and oil company Nexen Incorporated.

Officials have often been critiqued for not specifying what is actually meant by the phrase, ‘resulting in a net-benefit to Canada’.

The Chinese National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) is attempting to buy Nexen in a deal that is nearly three times the size of the proposed Petronas-Progress Energy takeover.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has already said that, in relation to the deal, there are concerns about the very different economic and political systems of Canada and China.

A decision on the Nexen deal has been extended to November 11.

Meanwhile, Petronas now has 30-days to adjust its offer and send it back to Ottawa for another review.