WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China's state-owned oil company CNOOC has formally asked the U.S. government to review its $15.1 billion takeover bid for Canada's Nexen for potential national security concerns, a CNOOC spokesman said on Wednesday.
CNOOC has asked the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to examine its proposed acquisition of Nexen. About 10 percent of the Canadian oil producer's assets are in the United States.
A CNOOC spokesman declined to comment on when the company filed its paperwork with the U.S. government panel. CFIUS has up to 75 days to decide whether to impose any conditions on the deal from the day the paperwork was filed.
(Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Rachelle Younglai; Editing by James Dalgleish)