China's co to buy stake in Chesapeake

The Chesapeake agreement shows that China is confident that the purchase of a 33 per cent stake in the Eagle Ford acreage in South Texas will get the backing of US regulators and politicians, who stepped in five years ago to block CNOOC’s effort to buy US oil company Unocal.

CNOOC agreed to fund 75 per cent of Chesapeake’s share of drilling and completion costs until an additional $1.08 billion is paid, which Chesapeake expects by 2012, the companies said. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter.