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SHANGHAI — CNOOC Ltd., China's third-largest oil and gas producer, said Wednesday its first-half profit sank 55 percent on sharply lower oil prices but it forecast better results as the economy recovers.
Profit fell to 12.4 billion yuan ($1.8 billion), or 0.28 yuan per share, compared with 27.5 billion yuan in the first half of 2008, the Beijing-based company said. Revenue fell 42 percent from a year earlier to 40.65 billion yuan ($6.95 billion).
CNOOC, the country's main offshore oil and gas producer, lacks major refining operations and so was directly hurt by the sharp drop in oil prices from a year earlier.
But a recent recovery in business activity, with growth accelerating to 7.9 percent in the second quarter, and rebounding oil prices are expected to help in coming months, CNOOC's chairman, Fu Chengyu, said in a statement.
"2009 will become the company's next milestone in its history of stable growth," Fu said.
Total production is expected to rise 15 percent and 10 new projects are due to come on line, he said.
Like China's other major oil producers, CNOOC has been actively searching out new assets overseas to supplement domestic production.
CNOOC's net production rose 15.2 percent in January-June to 105.8 million barrels of oil equivalent, the company said.
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On the Net:
CNOOC Ltd.: http://www.cnoocltd.com
