HONG KONG (Standard&Poor's) June 23, 2005--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it had placed its 'BBB+' credit ratings on CNOOC Ltd. (CNOOC), CNOOC Finance Corp. Ltd., and China National Offshore Oil Corp. on CreditWatch with negative implications after CNOOC said it had made a take over bid for Unocal Corp. CNOOC has made an all-cash bid of US$18.5 billion for Unocal, excluding a US$0.5 billion breakup fee, which represents a US$1.5 billion premium over an offer made by Chevron Corp. (AA/Stable/A-1+) in June 2005. The takeover offer is equivalent to an acquisition cost of US$11.20 per barrel of oil equivalent, or about US$9.60 if all mid-stream assets are excluded. The transaction will be financed through CNOOC's
