CNOOC asks for immediate review by CFI

China National Offshore Oil Corporation has asked the US government to immediately examine its bid for Unocal.

The call for an immediate review by the Committee on Foreign Investments in the US, the group that looks into purchases of American companies by foreign investors, is seen as a move by CNOOC to prove that its bid is entirely commercial in nature and will not be subject to interference from the Chinese government, which owns the company.

The request also comes ahead of final votes on a measure meant to block the use of federal money to recommend approval of CNOOC’s bid and another piece of legislation that asks President George W. Bush to review CNOOC’s bid only if Unocal accepts the bid.

Washington, however, is not the only pace where the CNOOC’s bid for Unocal is controversial.

While some academics in China see the bid as “farsighted” in its attempt to take China’s future energy needs into account, others see CNOOC as taking on entirely too much debt in the event that the price of oil falls steeply in the future.

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