Two U.S. congressmen asked the Bush administration to review and potentially block any effort by China’s CNOOC Ltd. to acquire Unocal Corp., The Wall Street Journal reported.
The move comes as reports surfaced that CNOOC was set to make a counter-offer to trump Chevron Corp’s $16-billion bid for El Segundo-based Unocal. The offer was made in April.
Richard Pombo and Duncan Hunter, Republican congressmen from California, urged President Bush to exercise his authority under a 1988 federal law to begin a review by the Committee on Foreign Investments in the U.S., an inter-agency panel chaired by Treasury Secretary John Snow, the Journal said. After the review, Bush could block the deal, although such a move would be highly unusual.
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