State-owned CNOOC, which has a listed arm in Hong Kong and New York, has asked bankers to study a takeover of Unocal, the ninth-largest oil company in the US, to be followed by the immediate sale of its US assets.
Although progress is at a preliminary stage, foreign energy executives, who judge CNOOC to be the best of China's state energy groups, said yesterday the company should not be underestimated.
CNOOC had been looking at Unocal's assets in Asia, in countries such as Thailand, Indonesia andMyanmar for some time, these executives said, and had the balance sheet to handle such a large transaction.
....The purchase of Unocal would be the first by the Chinese of a large, listed US resources company, and might attract the attention of regulators and politicians.
Financial Times