1. Two perspectives here: It doesn't really matter who owns the crude. The crude still flows on to the world market. If China ships Unocal crude to China, it just means they buy less elsewhere. 70% of Unocal reserves are in Asia and never would have been sold in North America anyway. Also, its not like if we went to war with China that we wouldn't take the 30% of reserves that are in the US anyway. There are other US companies with operations offshore China, that oil is sold to China, not to North America.
2. It is true that it is the zero interest loans that are making the acquisition possible. What this means is that CNOC is not factoring in the true cost of capital into their analysis, and are therefore willing to overpay. There is nothing wrong with US companies selling assets to people who are overpaying for them. What it means is a net windfall for the US company at the expense of the Chinese government/ taxpayers.
It matters who owns the assets. See Posts #13 and #14.
Sorry. Posts #14 and #16.
Correct analysis on the surface. Beneath the surface, the US is selling assets to spend today, while China is buying a future revenue stream. Guess who will be better off down the road. It will be the guys who bought a future revenue stream.