<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div class="page_top" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: none; outline: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; float: left; width: 1002px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: none !important; "><div id="article_header" class="article_content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><div class="top_content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><div id="page_header" class="page_header_email_alerts" style="margin: 45px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 196, 196); outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; float: left; display: inline; zoom: 1; width: 674px; z-index: auto; position: static; "><h1 style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: normal; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: georgia; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(137, 28, 13); line-height: 1.18em; clear: both; "><span itemprop="name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/1487312-meet-your-new-boss-buying-large-employers-will-enable-china-to-dominate-thousands-of-u-s-communities?source=yahoo">http://seekingalpha.com/article/1487312-meet-your-new-boss-buying-large-employers-will-enable-china-to-dominate-thousands-of-u-s-communities?source=yahoo</a></span></h1><h1 style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: normal; font-style: inherit; font-size: 30px; font-family: georgia; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(137, 28, 13); line-height: 1.18em; clear: both; "><span itemprop="name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Meet Your New Boss: Buying Large Employers Will Enable China To Dominate Thousands Of U.S. Communities</span></h1><div id="article_info" style="margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 0.95em; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(149, 149, 149); display: inline; "><div class="article_info_pos" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 3px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline; "><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Jun 7 2013, 08:43</span> <span id="title_article_comments" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "></span> <span id="about_stocks" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(166, 166, 166); line-height: 19px; "></span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="cleaner" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; clear: both; float: none !important; "></div></div><div class="cleaner" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; clear: both; float: none !important; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "></div><div id="main_content" class="no_big_gaps_main_content" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 120px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; float: left; width: 680px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><div id="article_body_container" class="no_big_gaps_article_body_container" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 7px 0px 3px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 500px; float: right; min-height: 2000px; "><div id="article_body" itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px; padding: 3px 0px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); position: relative; z-index: 1; zoom: 1; float: right; width: 491px; line-height: 20px; "><p style="font-size: 13px; font-family: inherit; margin: 7px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><img align="right" alt="The United States - A Colony Of China" hspace="6" vspace="6" id="1d208002-c3bc-4581-972f-6c40a355882c" height="187" width="300" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" style="padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; display: inline; overflow: visible; max-width: 480px; " src="cid:E52288AE-B490-45E4-A140-F37A03A856D4@att.net">Are you ready for a future where China will employ millions of American workers and dominate thousands of small communities all over the United States? Such a future would be unimaginable to many Americans, but the truth is that it is already starting to happen. Chinese acquisition of U.S. businesses set a new all-time record last year, and it is on pace to absolutely shatter that record this year. Meanwhile, China is voraciously gobbling up real estate and is establishing economic beachheads all over America. <b>If China continues to build economic power inside the United States, it will eventually become the dominant economic force in thousands of small communities all over the nation. Just think about what the Smithfield Foods (<a href="http://seekingalpha.com/symbol/sfd" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(87, 159, 196); text-decoration: none; ">SFD</a>) acquisition alone will mean. Smithfield Foods is the largest pork producer and processor in the world. It has facilities in 26 U.S. states and it employs tens of thousands of Americans. It directly owns 460 farms and has contracts with approximately 2,100 others.</b> But now a Chinese company has bought it for <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-29/shuanghui-group-said-to-near-agreement-to-buy-smithfield-foods.html" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(87, 159, 196); text-decoration: none; ">$4.7 billion</a>, and that means that the Chinese will now be the most important employer in dozens of rural communities all over America. If you don't think that this is important, you haven't been paying much attention to what has been going on in the world. Thanks in part to our massively bloated trade deficit with China, the Chinese have trillions of dollars to spend. They are only just starting to exercise their economic muscles.</p><p style="font-size: 13px; font-family: inherit; margin: 7px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">And it is important to keep in mind that there is often not much of a difference between "the Chinese government" and "Chinese corporations". In 2011, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government-owned_corporation#China.2C_People.27s_Republic_of" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(87, 159, 196); text-decoration: none; ">43 percent</a> of all profits in China were produced by companies that the Chinese government had a controlling interest in. Americans are accustomed to thinking of "government" and "business" as being separate things, but in China they are often one and the same. Even when there is a separation in ownership, the reality is that no major Chinese corporation is going to go against the authority and guidance of the Chinese government. The relationship between government and business in China is much different than it is in the United States.</p><p style="font-size: 13px; font-family: inherit; margin: 7px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Over the past several years, Chinese companies have become increasingly aggressive. <b>Last year a Chinese company spent $2.6 billion to purchase AMC entertainment - one of the largest movie theater chains in the United States. Now that Chinese company controls more movie ticket sales than anyone else in the world. At the time, that was the largest acquisition of a U.S. firm by a Chinese company, but now the Smithfield Foods deal has greatly surpassed that.</b></p><div id="middle_rta" style="font-size: 13px; font-family: inherit; margin: 17px 0px 26px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 491px; float: left; text-align: center; "><div id="related_promo_container_rel2" class="rta_bottom" style="margin: 0px auto 0px 55px; padding: 14px 0px; border-width: 2px 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; float: left; position: relative; width: 380px; z-index: 8; "><span class="title_wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><div class="rta_bottom_title" id="related_promo_title2" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: bold; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: arial; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><span id="promo_num_of_rta_rel2" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">224</span> people received this article by email alert <span id="second_line_midelena" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><br>Add your email to get alerts on <span class="replace_by_rel_slug" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">SHI</span> too:</span></div></span><div id="no_checkbox_midelena" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><div class="rta_bottom_lnk" style="margin: 7px 0px 0px 110px; padding: 0px 8px; border: 1px solid rgb(216, 147, 0); outline: 0px; font-weight: bold; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: arial; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(45, 45, 45) !important; cursor: pointer; clear: both; float: left; line-height: 22px; background-image: url(http://static3.cdn-seekingalpha.com/images/universal/rate_article_btn.gif?1370792535); background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; display: inline-block; height: 21px; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; ">Get email alerts on <span class="replace_by_rel_slug" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">SHI</span><span class="rta_bottom_arrow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "> »</span></div></div></div></div><p style="font-size: 13px; font-family: inherit; margin: 7px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">But China is not just relying on acquisitions to expand its economic power. The truth is that "economic beachheads" are being established all over America. For example, Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tube Group, Inc. recently broke ground on a <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2012/07/25/investing/china-investing-us/index.htm?iid=HP_River" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(87, 159, 196); text-decoration: none; ">$100 million plant</a> in Thomasville, Alabama. I am sure that many of the residents of Thomasville, Alabama will be glad to have jobs, but it will also become yet another community that will now be heavily dependent on communist China.</p><p style="font-size: 13px; font-family: inherit; margin: 7px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">And guess where else Chinese companies are putting down roots? Detroit.</p><p style="font-size: 13px; font-family: inherit; margin: 7px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Yes, the poster child for the <a href="http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/obamas-secret-treaty-which-would-push-the-deindustrialization-of-america-into-overdrive" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(87, 159, 196); text-decoration: none; ">deindustrialization of America</a> is being invaded by the Chinese. The following comes from a recent <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/100730370" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(87, 159, 196); text-decoration: none; ">CNBC article</a>...</p><blockquote style="font-size: 13px; font-family: inherit; margin: 20px 0px; padding: 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: ''; "><blockquote class="quote" style="margin: 20px 0px; padding: 0px 10px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 10px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(239, 240, 240); outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: ''; position: static; z-index: auto; "><p style="margin: 7px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; "><b>Dozens of companies from China are putting down roots in Detroit, part of the country's steady push into the American auto industry.</b></em></p><p style="margin: 7px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; ">Chinese-owned companies are investing in American businesses and new vehicle technology, selling everything from seat belts to shock absorbers in retail stores, and hiring experienced engineers and designers in an effort to soak up the talent and expertise of domestic automakers and their suppliers.</em></p></blockquote></blockquote><p style="font-size: 13px; font-family: inherit; margin: 7px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><b>If you recently purchased an "American-made vehicle", there is a really good chance that it has Chinese parts in it.</b></p><p style="font-size: 13px; font-family: inherit; margin: 7px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">In fact, it is becoming harder and harder to get auto parts that are actually made in America by American companies. A lot of those companies are dying off. One example of this is a battery maker that had received $132 million from the federal government that <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/100730370" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(87, 159, 196); text-decoration: none; ">was recently gobbled up</a> by a huge Chinese corporation ...</p><blockquote style="font-size: 13px; font-family: inherit; margin: 20px 0px; padding: 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: ''; "><blockquote class="quote" style="margin: 20px 0px; padding: 0px 10px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 10px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(239, 240, 240); outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: ''; "><p style="margin: 7px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; ">Industry analysts are hard-pressed to put a number on the Chinese suppliers operating in the United States. "We simply don't know how many there are," said David Andrea, an official with the Original Equipment Suppliers Association, a trade organization for auto parts makers.</em></p><p style="margin: 7px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; ">In one of the more prominent deals, the Wanxiang Group bought most of the assets of the battery maker A123 Systems, which filed for bankruptcy last year despite receiving $132 million of $249 million in federal grants to build two factories in Michigan.</em></p><p style="margin: 7px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; ">Congressional Republicans criticized the deal, saying A123's technology could support military applications in China. Still, the buyout was approved this year by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a federal government panel.</em></p></blockquote></blockquote><p style="font-size: 13px; font-family: inherit; margin: 7px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><b>China seems particularly interested in acquiring energy resources in the United States. For example, did you know that China is actually mining for coal in the mountains of Tennessee?</b></p><p style="font-size: 13px; font-family: inherit; margin: 7px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Guizhou Gouchuang Energy Holdings Group spent 616 million dollars to acquire Triple H Coal Co. in Jacksboro, Tennessee. At the time, that acquisition really didn't make much news, but now a group of conservatives in Tennessee is trying to stop the Chinese from blowing up their mountains and taking their coal. The following is from a <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323639604578370733715160950.html" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(87, 159, 196); text-decoration: none; ">Wall Street Journal article</a> back in March ...</p><blockquote style="font-size: 13px; font-family: inherit; margin: 20px 0px; padding: 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: ''; "><blockquote class="quote" style="margin: 20px 0px; padding: 0px 10px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 10px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(239, 240, 240); outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: ''; position: static; z-index: auto; "><p style="margin: 7px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; "><b>The Tennessee Conservative Union began airing an ad Tuesday that says lawmakers have failed to protect the state's scenic mountains and are allowing the "Chinese to destroy our mountains and take our coal…the same folks who hold our debt."</b></em></p></blockquote></blockquote><p style="font-size: 13px; font-family: inherit; margin: 7px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">But when it comes to our energy resources, China has been most interested in our oil and natural gas. It is a complete and total mystery why the federal government would allow China to buy up our precious domestic sources of energy, but it is happening. The following is a list of some of the oil and natural gas deals that China has been involved in during the last few years that was compiled <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2012/03/06/chinas-footprint-in-us-oil-a-state-by-state-list/" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(87, 159, 196); text-decoration: none; ">by the Wall Street Journal</a>...</p><div><p style="margin: 0px 8px 1em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; "><font face="Verdana" size="2">China is gathering oil and gas assets across the U.S., <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204883304577223083067806776.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories" style="color: rgb(9, 61, 114); outline: none; ">The Wall Street Journal reports today</a>. State-run giants Cnooc and Sinopec are scooping up minority stakes and signing joint-ventures, to the tune of $17 billion in U.S. and Canadian deals since 2010, to feed the energy thirsty nation.</font></p><div class="mceTemp" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; clear: both; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 10px; text-align: left; "><dl class="wp-caption alignleft caption-alignleft " style="margin: 0px 27px 12px 8px; padding: 0px; float: left; width: 165px; "><dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; "><font face="Verdana" size="2"><img class="size-full wp-image-5" alt="" width="165" height="249" id="230ba66f-ed8f-4c71-bfab-344fc5b2823e" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" style="border: none; margin: 8px 0px 0px; " src="cid:3AA87975-88AF-4095-8550-DAD63C7D1900@att.net"></font></dt><dd class="wp-caption-dd wp-cite-dd" style="margin: 2px 0px; padding: 2px 0px 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); text-align: right; "><font face="Verdana" size="2">Associated Press</font></dd></dl></div><p style="margin: 0px 8px 1em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; "><font face="Verdana" size="2">Here’s a list of the assets, by state, that China’s energy giants have bought:</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 8px 1em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; "><font face="Verdana" size="2"><strong>Colorado: </strong>Cnooc gained a one-third stake in 800,000 acres in northeast Colorado and southeast Wyoming in a $1.27 billion pact with Chesapeake Energy Corp.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 8px 1em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; "><font face="Verdana" size="2"><strong>Louisiana: </strong>Sinopec has a one-third interest in 265,000 acres in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale after a broader $2.5-billion deal with Devon Energy.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 8px 1em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; "><font face="Verdana" size="2"><strong>Michigan: </strong>Sinopec gained a one-third interest in 350,000 acres in a larger $2.5 billion deal with Devon Energy.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 8px 1em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; "><font face="Verdana" size="2"><strong>Ohio:</strong> Sinopec acquired a one-third stake in Devon Energy’s 235,000 Utica Shale acres in a larger $2.5 billion deal.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 8px 1em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; "><font face="Verdana" size="2"><strong>Oklahoma: </strong>Sinopec has a one-third interest in 215,000 acres in a broader $2.5 billion deal with Devon Energy.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 8px 1em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; "><font face="Verdana" size="2"><strong>Texas:</strong> Cnooc acquired a one-third interest in Chesapeake Energy’s 600,000 acres in the Eagle Ford Shale in a $2.16-billion deal.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 8px 1em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; "><font face="Verdana" size="2"><strong>Wyoming: </strong>Cnooc has a one-third stake in 800,000 acres in northeast Colorado and southeast Wyoming after a $1.27 billion pact with Chesapeake Energy. Sinopec gained a one-third interest in Devon Energy’s 320,000 acres as part of a larger $2.5 billion deal.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 8px 1em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; "><font face="Verdana" size="2"><strong>Gulf of Mexico: </strong>Cnooc Ltd. separately acquired minority stakes in some of Statoil ASA’s leases as well as six of Nexen Inc.’s deep-water wells.</font></p></div></div></div></div></body></html>