Kazakhstan’s upper house backed a proposed law that could enable the oil-rich state to interfere in Chinese CNPC’s $4.18 billion bid for the Canadian-owned PetroKazakhstan and other similar deals.

The bill would allow Kazakhstan to intervene whenever foreign firms seek to sell their interests in Kazakh oil companies. It would also limit property rights for “strategic resources” like oil and gas assets in the country. PetroKazakhstan also faces strong opposition by Russian oil major LUKoil which is planning to fight CNPC’s takeover bid in court as part of its attempts to gain full ownership of a joint venture with PetroKaz.