The US House Energy and Commerce Committee said on Thursday it had canceled a Friday hearing on an $18.5 billion offer by China's CNOOC Ltd to buy US oil and gas producer Unocal Corp. In a brief statement, the committee said the hearing had been canceled because of a continuing meeting of House and Senate lawmakers to try to agree on a single version of energy legislation.
The discussions had already moved the CNOOC hearing from Tuesday.
"A new date for the hearing has not been scheduled," the committee said. Unocal on Wednesday endorsed a sweetened $17 billion take-over offer from Chevron Corp.
Sentiment against the Chinese bid for Unocal has been running high in Congress, with bills and amendments being offered that would block or delay any CNOOC purchase of Unocal.