UNOCAL and China

Does UNOCAL still have plans or contracts for building the pipeline through Afghanistan to Pakistan? Could that be why China is trying to buy the company? Or does UNOCAL no longer have an interest in that pipeline? Has anyone been keeping up with this?

Chinese Oil Firm Bids for Unocal

A major Chinese oil company made a landmark offer to buy California-based Unocal Corp. for $18.5 billion on Wednesday, topping a bid by rival U.S. oil giant Chevron Corp. and setting the stage for an intense political debate over the future of U.S. energy, security and trade policies.

The unsolicited offer by CNOOC Ltd., an arm of state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp., was the most dramatic example yet of China's growing influence in global markets and would be China's largest foreign acquisition by far.

The proposed buyout could raise hackles in the United States, which is heavily dependent on foreign oil. China's fast-growing economy is consuming ever-larger amounts of crude, which is helping to drive the price to record heights on world markets, and CNOOC wants to add Unocal's assets to its energy reserves.

Fu Chengyu, CNOOC's chairman and chief executive, said his company's $67-a-share cash bid "is a good offer for Unocal" and "it is good for America."

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-unocal23jun23,0,3315892.story?coll=la-home-headlines

UNOCAL was to build the Afghanistan pipeline:

Monday, 13 May, 2002

Afghanistan hopes to strike a deal later this month to build a $2bn pipeline through the country to take gas from energy-rich Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India.

Afghan interim ruler Hamid Karzai is to hold talks with his Pakistani and Turkmenistan counterparts later this month on Afghanistan's biggest foreign investment project, said Mohammad Alim Razim, minister for Mines and Industries told Reuters.

"The work on the project will start after an agreement is expected to be struck at the coming summit," Mr Razim said.

The construction of the 850-kilometre pipeline had been previously discussed between Afghanistan's former Taliban regime, US oil company Unocal and Bridas of Argentina.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1984459.stm

On the way to dinner, I noticed the LOWEST price for gas was $2.25.

We have GOT to get the OIL money out of the White House!!!!! They don't care, it's all profit. Without some alternative power solution, we are doomed!

This is sad.

Are we going to see a major sell off of our oil industry to the Chinese?
Will Republicans rethink the need to nationalize our oil industry? Hey, it was OK for Iraq to privitize their oil industry, surely our government would agree that it's perfectly fine to have our largest oil companies sold to interests with the most $.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/cgi-bin/duforum/duboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=13631&forum=DCForumID35

This is very scary!:scared: