Unocal shareholders accept Chevron bid

LOS ANGELES — Shareholders of oil and gas company Unocal Corp. formally voted Wednesday to accept a takeover bid by Chevron Corp., even as some at the meeting continued to lament a failed rival bid by a Chinese oil company.

The approval of the approximately $18 billion purchase of the world's ninth-largest oil company follows months of negotiations and a high-profile courtship from CNOOC Ltd., a Chinese oil company that hoped to secure energy resources needed to accompany its country's rapid economic growth.

Unocal announced that holders of 77.2 percent of eligible shares favored the Chevron buyout and 2.6 percent were opposed. Of the shares actually voted, 96.6 percent approved the deal.

Chevron said the acquisition would add to earnings in 2006. The combined companies will produce the equivalent of 2.8 million barrels of oil per day and the acquisition will increase Chevron's reserves by about 15 percent, Chevron said in a press release.

CNOOC's bid caused a political uproar, and was clearly on the minds of about 100 Unocal shareholders and employees gathered at a hotel for the final vote. Several expressed patriotic pride in Unocal being sold to a U.S. company, while some suggested the company may have sold too soon and wondered whether the Chinese company ever had a shot.

"Chevron is a fine company. They have a global perspective. They have comparable values," Unocal Chairman and CEO Chuck Williamson told the shareholders. "I hope you continue to support Chevron like you have Unocal."

After the meeting, Williamson lamented the political firestorm that erupted over the CNOOC bid and said both companies underestimated the opposition.

"We both recognized there would be political repercussions," Williamson said. "This touched a nerve. It really became a platform in my mind for much more complex and greater China-United States issues than just CNOOC and Unocal. That, we did not anticipate."

Rick Somerville of Los Angeles, who said his family owns 20,000 shares, said Unocal may have benefited by waiting because of rising oil prices and Chinese demand for energy.

Williamson acknowledged that the price of oil rose more rapidly since the Chevron deal was first reached in April than he had anticipated. But he said that Unocal shareholders who opted to take Chevron stock will participate in the profits resulting from higher prices.