China's top offshore oil producer Cnooc is making a bid for obscure Canada based Nations Energy whose main asset is a 50000 barrels a day in Kazakhstan. These USD 2 billion deals follow a USD 2.3 billion deal for a deepwater field in Nigeria. Cnooc has been aggressive in bidding for international facilities that will feed increasing domestic demand for energy. Last year, Cnooc made a bold USD 18.5 billion bid for US producer Unocal but lost the bid to Chevron. That bid awoke many in Western capitals about China's increasing boldness to expand its scope to secure domestic business growth and energy needs. India and China recently agreed on a framework that will ensure co-operation between the countries in bidding for other facilities.

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