As oil prices continue to soar, shareholders of the oil and gas giant Unocal approved the acquisition of the company by the Chevron corporation. The deal is reportedly worth more than $17 billion. Unocal was the object of a bidding war until last week, when Chinese producer CNOOC dropped its unsolicited $18.5 billion bid in the face of intense political opposition. The approval came soon after oil prices hit a record high of more than $64 a barrel.