Republicans Say China Oil Deal Highlights U.S. Inaction
Thursday, 26 Jul 2012 07:37 PM
China's plan to
gain a bigger foothold in North American oil production shows the U.S.
government needs a more aggressive energy policy, a group of influential Senate
Republicans said on Thursday, while a Democratic leader called for review of a
Chinese bid to buy a major Canadian oil firm.
The senators said they were concerned about the bid by China's state oil
company CNOOC for the Canadian oil company Nexen, but they stopped short of
saying that the U.S. government should try to do something to stop it.
"I have concerns
about the deal, very definitely. I think it has to be looked at carefully. I
think I'll stop there for right now," said Senator John Hoeven, when asked
at a news conference whether the U.S. government should intervene.
"But the real point is, we should be developing
these resources, not having the Chinese government acquiring them," said Hoeven, a North
Dakota senator whose home state
has become the nation's second-largest oil producer.
"Do we really
want to be buying our oil or Canadian oil back from the Chinese? If we don't
take action to develop our resources and work with our closest friend and ally Canada,
that's exactly what's going to happen," Hoeven said.
Hoeven was joined by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell to unveil
a package of
energy proposals that would allow for more drilling on government-owned land,
reduce regulations, streamline drilling permits, and approve the Keystone XL
pipeline carrying oil from Canada.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives has already passed
many of the familiar proposals, which have virtually no chance of being
considered by the Democratic-controlled Senate.
But Senator John Cornyn, who heads the Senate Republican Campaign
Committee, said the proposal is "a very
concrete blueprint" for what would happen if Republicans win the
presidency and control of the U.S. Senate on Nov. 6.
OBAMA KEYSTONE
DELAY FAULTED
The senators blame
President Barack Obama's delay in approving TransCanada's pipeline for pushing
Canada's government to more aggressively explore oil deals with
China.
Obama has said a portion of the pipeline going through Nebraska needed
more environmental review after the route was adjusted to avoid an ecologically
sensitive area.
The incident helped Canada see
the need to advance its economic relationship with China, Canada's former
industry minister said in an opinion piece in the Globe and Mail newspaper on
Thursday.
"While we were
slow to realize it, a country that has only one customer for its most valuable
export is in constant peril, even if that customer is your best friend. U.S.
President Barack Obama has reinforced just how significant that risk is," Jim Prentice wrote.
In buying Nexen,
CNOOC will gain access to
Canada's oilsands and some holdings in the Gulf of Mexico.
"I'm concerned because it's really a trend, particularly in the
Gulf of Mexico," Louisiana Senator David Vitter said.
"I don't know enough about it to know whether it should be blocked
through any American, U.S.-based law. But I do think the far better alternative
is for us to play offense, and for us to be developing, taking advantage of
these energy resources," Vitter told Reuters.
Because of those holdings, the national security elements of the
China-Canada deal may be scrutinized by the powerful Committee on Foreign
Investment in the United States. A spokesman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said the Democrat
expected a thorough review by the committee.
"This deal
prompts great concern about the Chinese government's continued attempts to use
its state-owned enterprises to acquire global energy resources," Pelosi spokesman
Drew Hamill said.
When CNOOC tried in 2005 to take over American oil company Unocal, there
was an immediate political backlash.
Republican
Congressman Randy Forbes, who helped lead congressional opposition to the
failed Unocal bid, said he does not like the CNOOC-Nexen bid, but feels he
cannot do much about it because it is a Canadian company.
"Whatever we
would do would simply be talking in the wind, because we don't have any legal
authority to stop this action," Forbes said in an interview on
Wednesday.
© 2012
Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.
