Bush Admin Urged to Review Expected China CNOOC Bid for Unocal

Two Republican members of Congress are calling on the Bush administration to review — and potentially block — an expected effort by China’s third-largest oil-and-natural-gas company to acquire Unocal Corp, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The newspaper said the move comes as China’s CNOOC Ltd is considering a counterbid for Unocal, a US company with oil-and-gas reserves in North America and Asia.

In April, Chevron Corp — the second-largest US oil company in terms of market value, behind Exxon Mobil Corp — agreed to buy Unocal in a stock-and-cash deal valued at 16.7 bln usd.

The paper said in a pre-emptive move, the congressmen sent a letter to Bush on Friday seeking a federal review of any bid by CNOOC, the publicly listed arm of state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp, based on national-security concerns.
Forbes