The Canadian government and the European Commission have approved the $15.1bn (£9.4bn) takeover of Nexen by China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), in a deal that has caused controversy in Canada over the foreign ownership of natural-resource assets.
The deal is China’s largest-ever overseas energy acquisition and gives China control over 8pc of North Sea oil and gas production.
In addition to its Canadian assets, Nexen is the second-largest oil producer in the UK North Sea, pumping 114,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd).
It has a 43pc stake in the Buzzard field which is becoming increasingly important in setting global oil prices as output at other fields in the North Sea declines.
Brent crude prices are increasingly being used all over the world as the definitive global benchmark in deals, overtaking West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US benchmark oil contract.
