Lawmaker wants CNOOC?Unocal review in energy bill

Stock Market News and Investment Information | Reuters.com: "A senior House Republican wants to require the U.S. Energy Department to review China's bid to buy American oil producer Unocal Corp. (UCL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) as part of a sweeping energy bill that House and Senate negotiators began discussing on Thursday.

Republican Richard Pombo of California, chairman of the House Resources Committee, proposed an amendment which would require the U.S. Energy Secretary to submit a confidential report to the White House within six months on the implications of state-run CNOOC Ltd.'s (0883.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) (CEO.N: Quote, Profile, Research) $18.5 billion bid for Unocal.

The measure would require the Energy Department review before the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States -- a multi-agency panel led by the Treasury Department -- could review CNOOC's acquisition plan.

'We must assess these matters now, rather than after CNOOC has acquired Unocal,' Pombo wrote in a letter to Rep. Joe Barton, a Texas Republican.

CNOOC's bid for Unocal could be the 'Sputnik of our time,' Pombo said, referring to the satellite the Soviet Union launched in 1957, which spurred a Cold War space race."

I wonder how long it takes Delay to squelch this one. We wouldn't want to interfere with free markets and big bidness, now would we?