Cnooc Hired U.S. Lobbyists Before Announcing Nexen Purchase
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Chinese energy giant Cnooc Ltd., whose efforts to buy a U.S. oil company in 2005 sparked an outcry over foreign ownership, hired two Washington lobbying firms just before announcing its plan to buy Nexen Inc.
Cnooc, owned by the Chinese government and based in Beijing, agreed July 23 to pay $15.1 billion for Nexen, a Calgary-based company that operates in the U.S. portion of the Gulf of Mexico. It is Cnooc’s biggest North American deal since it walked away from Unocal Corp. under congressional pressure and the largest overseas acquisition by a Chinese company.