China's largest offshore oil producer,
CNOOC Ltd.
(
CEO
), announced today that it has finally wrapped up the $15.1
billion acquisition of Canada's
Nexen Inc.
(
NXY
). The deal closed more than seven months after the biggest
Chinese foreign takeover was announced.
Now, Nexen will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of CNOOC
with Kevin Reinhart remaining as chief executive. Nexen shares
will be delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange after a few
trading days. Shares of the Canadian energy producer will cease
trading on the New York Stock Exchange before markets open on Feb
26, and will be delisted consequently. All of Nexen's existing
assets, including CNOOC's North and Central American operations,
will be controlled from Nexen's Calgary headquarters.
The acquisition agreement, first announced in Jul 2012, won
approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United
States (CFIUS) earlier this month and from the Canadian
regulators in Dec 2012.
This deal marks a significant milestone for CNOOC as it gets hold
of Nexen's biggest reserves in the Canadian oil sands. Nexen
operates in western Canada, the Gulf of Mexico, North Sea, Africa
and the Middle East. Apart from oil sands, Nexen remains dynamic
in natural gas exploration in shale rock formations. It owns
approximately 300,000 acres of shale-gas blocks in the Horn River
Basin in British Columbia.
Chinese energy giants remain busy now-a-days in stretching their
foothold to the international energy markets with the specific
aim of meeting domestic demand. As the world's second-largest
economy, China has a huge energy requirement.
In this connection, it is worth mentioning that
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp
/Sinopec (
SNP
) has inked a $1.02 billion deal with
Chesapeake Energy Corp.
(
CHK
). This gives the second-largest Chinese energy producer 50%
share in 850,000 acres in the Mississippi Lime play in northern
Oklahoma.
CNOOC currently retains a Zacks Rank #3 (short-term Hold
rating).
CNOOC LTD ADR (CEO): Free Stock Analysis
Report
CHESAPEAKE ENGY (CHK): Free Stock Analysis
Report
NEXEN INC (NXY): Free Stock Analysis Report
CHINA PETRO&CHM (SNP): Free Stock Analysis
Report
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