今年5月份中国推出首个深水钻井平台时，中国海洋石油有限公司（Cnooc Ltd., 简称: 中海油）董事长王宜林向公司员工和他在党内的上级传递了一个信息，说明这一平台对于北京的海外雄心意味着什么。
他说，大型深水装备是我们流动的国土，是战略利器。当时他的听众除了通过电视会议系统连线的平台工人以外，还有一群聚集在北京市中心富丽堂皇的中海油总部的人士。
国有企业中海油今年要利用这个平台在南中国海（South China Sea, 中国称南海）钻出三个油井。中国和几个周边国家在南中国海的领土主张存在重合，北京与华盛顿之间也因这一地区的问题出现了越来越剧烈的摩擦。
王宜林目前正率领中海油以151亿美元的价格收购加拿大油企Nexen Inc.。由于Nexen在墨西哥湾拥有能源资产，这桩大手笔交易需要得到美国监管机构的批准。
这是王宜林去年执掌中海油以来的最新一笔收购。从那时候起，王宜林就充当了一种双重角色，一方面他要在国外把中海油当一家逐利性的跨国公司来经营，另一方面又要在国内把它当一笔政治资产和战略资产来进行宣传。
这两个角色之间的矛盾在中国引发了担忧，就连中海油内部的一些人都在担心，中海油在南中国海地区充满政治动机的行动有可能被认为过于咄咄逼人。王宜林曾率领中海油维护中国在南中国海的领土主张，而同时越南、菲律宾等国也声称拥有南中国海部分海域的主权。
除此以外，中国石油行业还存在其他一些担心，比如中海油在美国总统大选之前宣布收购Nexen。在这次大选里面，中国已经成为一个引起热议的政治话题。
一位与中国几大石油公司关系密切的人士说，这个时机显得不是很好，如果通不过，那么其他在北美地区有打算的中国企业真的就非常危险了。
本报未能采访到王宜林本人。
中海油说，我们尊重所有司法管辖地的监管要求；我们致力于配合所有监管机构和政府的流程与手续，并与所有监管部门合作。
从中海油的近期举动可见，王宜林等石油业经理人正在如何利用海外并购提升自己的政治资本。中海油这些举动的背景是，中国一直要求国有企业到海外寻找业务，而共产党也在寻找国际经验丰富、业务能力强的年轻领导人。
曾为华盛顿布鲁金斯学会（Brookings Institution）撰文介绍中国石油业经理人的邓丽嘉（Erica Downs）说，如果王宜林能够成功完成收购Nexen的交易，这将成为他官帽上的一枝花翎。
分析人士以及对中海油运营有直接了解的人士说，55岁的王宜林似乎正在竞争更高的职位，似乎也拥有高层政治人物的支持。
作为中国主要的离岸油气生产商，中海油一直是涉入南中国海最深的中国企业。
中海油在6月份说，它将在越南认为按照联合国海洋法公约（United Nations' Convention on the Law of the Sea）属于其专属经济区的地区拿出新一批油气区块面向外国伙伴招标。
越南已经开始在这一区域进行勘探，并与意大利能源公司Eni SpA和美国埃克森美孚（Exxon Mobil Corp.）签署了该地区的勘探协议。中国声称，南海及其中岛屿的主权数百年来一直属于中国。
虽然中海油经常拿出南中国海区块供外商投资，但上述举动是它在争议海域最重要的招标活动。一位对中海油运营有直接了解的人士说，拿越南附近区块招标在中海油内部是有争议的，原因之一是有人认为此举过于激进。
这位人士说，归根到底，这一决定更多地是基于公司的利益做出的，而不都是党或政府高层的意思。这位人士还说，中海油觉得有必要这样做的部分原因，是民众对南中国海主权问题的民族主义情绪越来越强烈。
若完成对Nexen的收购，中海油将取得这家加拿大公司在墨西哥湾的深水业务。主要经营浅水业务的中海油将由此获得有可能用于南中国海的深水经验。
王宜林1982年在中国石油大学取得石油地质勘探专业的学士学位，同年进入石油工业部，从此开始他的职业生涯。
中海油提供的官方履历显示，在石油工业部撤销、被中国石油天然气集团公司（China National Petroleum Corp., 简称：中国石油集团）取代之后，王宜林从20世纪90年代到21世纪最初几年，一直在资源丰富的新疆担任中国石油集团的高管。
中国石油集团的一位高管说，王宜林在该公司内部行事低调，但其业务能力得到了高度认可。
王宜林在2003年成为中国石油集团的第三号人物，去年在石油行业的一次调整过程中当上中海油的一把手。
中国政府经常调整主要石油企业和其他国有企业的负责人，以缓和竞争，并在党或政府内给做得不错的企业高管以更高的职位。
分析人士说，让王宜林当上中海油一把手的部分目的，是要把他在中国陆上油田数十年的经验引入中海油。
据信，王宜林是有高层政治人物支持的。中央政治局常委、前中国石油集团高管周永康，据信就是助力王宜林职业生涯的人之一。
一位人士说，王宜林在南中国海的举动似乎是为了展示他的政治资本，向高层证明他可以在地区内最变幻不定的一场争端之中维护北京的利益。
研究机构Sanford C. Bernstein的分析师贝弗里奇（Neil Beveridge）说，这个时候其他中国企业最好都不要在北美地区迈出大步子；从某种程度上来讲，考虑到收购Nexen的交易正在进行，其他中国企业将不得不作壁上观。
When China launched its first deep-water oil rig in May, Cnooc Ltd. Chairman Wang Yilin delivered a message to employees and his Communist Party superiors about what it meant to Beijing's ambitions abroad.
'Large-scale deep-water rigs are our mobile national territory and a strategic weapon,' he told a crowd gathered at Cnooc's glittering headquarters in central Beijing as well as rig workers by videoconference.
State-controlled Cnooc is using the rig to drill three wells this year in the South China Sea -- an area with overlapping claims by China and other surrounding nations and an increasingly sore friction point between Beijing and Washington.
Mr. Wang now is spearheading Cnooc's $15.1 billion offer to acquire Canada's Nexen Inc., a blockbuster deal that needs U.S. regulatory approval because of Nexen's energy assets in the Gulf of Mexico.
It is the latest deal in a dual role that Mr. Wang has assumed since taking Cnooc's reins last year: running his company as a profit-driven multinational enterprise overseas, and promoting it as a political and strategic asset at home.
Tension between those two roles has sparked worries in China, where some people even inside his company fear that Cnooc's politically charged moves in the South China Sea could be viewed as too aggressive. Mr. Wang has led Cnooc to defend China's sovereignty claims there, despite competing claims by Vietnam, the Philippines and others.
That adds to other concerns in China's oil industry, including worries that Cnooc moved to announce the Nexen deal before the U.S. presidential election, in which China has become a heated political issue.
'The timing just doesn't look good,' said a person with close ties to China's major oil companies. 'If it doesn't go through, the danger is really severe' for other Chinese companies with ambitions in North America.
Mr. Wang wasn't available for an interview.
'We are respectful of the regulatory requirements across all the respective jurisdictions,' the company said. 'We aim to comply with all of the regulatory and government processes and procedures and to cooperate with all regulatory authorities.'
Cnooc's recent moves underscore how oil executives including Mr. Wang are using overseas deals to boost political credentials. They come as China has ordered state-controlled enterprises to seek business beyond its shores and as the Communist Party seeks younger leaders who are internationally savvy and competent in business.
'It's going to be a feather in [his] political cap' if Mr. Wang is able to successfully complete the Nexen deal, said Erica Downs, who has written about China's oil executives for the Brookings Institution in Washington.
Mr. Wang, 55 years old, appears to be vying for higher office, said analysts and people with direct knowledge of Cnooc's operations, adding that he appears to have high-level political backing.
As China's main offshore-oil company, Cnooc has been the Chinese company most involved with the South China Sea.
Cnooc in June said it was offering a new round of oil-and-gas blocks to foreign partners within what Vietnam says is its exclusive economic zone under the United Nations' Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Vietnam had already begun exploring the area and had signed deals with Italy's Eni SpA and Exxon Mobil Corp. to explore there. China says its claims in the South China Sea and its islands have belonged to the country for hundreds of years.
While Cnooc regularly offers blocks for foreign investment in the sea, the move marked its most significant offer in disputed waters. Inside Cnooc, the decision to auction blocks near Vietnam was a controversial one partly because it was seen as too aggressive, said one of the people with direct knowledge of Cnooc's operations.
Ultimately, the decision was driven more by the company itself than party or government higher-ups, the person said, adding that Cnooc felt pressured to act in part by intense public nationalism over sovereignty in the South China Sea.
With the Nexen deal, Cnooc would acquire the Canadian company's deep-water operations in the Gulf of Mexico. That would provide Cnooc, which mostly operates in shallow waters, with deep-water expertise that could be applied to the South China Sea.
Mr. Wang began his career at China's Petroleum Ministry in 1982 after receiving a bachelor's degree in petroleum geology and exploration from China University of Petroleum in 1982.
After the ministry was dissolved and replaced by China National Petroleum Corp., Mr. Wang spent the 1990s and early 2000s as a CNPC executive in China's ethnically restive yet resource-rich Xinjiang region, according to an official Cnooc biography.
A CNPC official said Mr. Wang kept a low-profile inside the company but was viewed as highly competent.
After rising to the No. 3 spot in CNPC in 2003, Mr. Wang landed the top job at Cnooc last year during a reorganization of the oil industry.
The government routinely shuffles the heads of China's major oil companies and other state-owned enterprises, serving to alleviate competition as well as to promote successful executives higher into the party or government.
Analysts said the move partly was designed to help bring Mr. Wang's decades of expertise in China's onshore oil fields to Cnooc.
Mr. Wang is believed to have political backing as well. Zhou Yongkang, a member of China's all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee and former CNPC executive, is believed to be among those helping Mr. Wang's career.
One person said Mr. Wang's work on the South China Sea appeared to be an effort to brandish his political credentials, showing political higher-ups he could defend Beijing's interests in one of the region's most volatile disputes.
'It's not a time when the other Chinese companies want to be making big moves in North America,' said Neil Beveridge, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. 'To some extent, given the Nexen deal is in process, the other Chinese companies will have to stay on the sideline.'
