China-Canada Oil Deal Shows More U.S. Drilling Needed: Senator
By REUTERS
Published: July 24, 2012 at 6:37 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican senators will unveil new energy
legislation on Thursday that will help battle a new move by China to tap
North American energy resources, Senator John Hoeven said.
China's state-owned oil
company CNOOC Ltd. launched a $15.1 billion takeover bid for Canada's
Nexen Inc, a company with operations in the Gulf of Mexico as well as in
Canada's oilsands.
Hoeven said the deal shows the United States needs to do more to aggressively develop its own resources.
"If we don't get going on it, China's already moving. He who hesitates has lost," Hoeven told Reuters.
Hoeven's bill mirrors what the Republican-controlled House of
Representatives has already passed, but the legislation will face an
uphill battle in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Hoeven said he believes the CNOOC-Nexen deal is a "direct result" of
President Barack Obama's January decision to delay approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, designed to bring oil from Canada's oilsands to Texas refineries.
Obama said a portion of TransCanada's pipeline needed more environmental
review. Weeks later, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada needed
to explore more opportunities to sell oil to China.
"This is really a direct result of the administration's resistance to
Keystone," Hoeven said. Hoeven represents North Dakota, where oil
production is booming. The pipeline would carry some of that oil to
southern refineries.
His proposed legislation would approve the pipeline, and make more
federal land and offshore areas available for drilling. It would also
simplify the permitting process for energy projects.
"The United States better work with Canada on Keystone and related
efforts to develop the oilsands so that oil comes here. If that doesn't
happen, it's going to China," he said.
(Editing by Leslie Gevirtz)
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