HONG KONG-- Cnooc Ltd., China's biggest offshore oil and gas
producer by output, on Tuesday said first-quarter oil and gas
revenue jumped 6.9% from a year earlier, thanks mainly to strong
growth in overseas output.
State-controlled Cnooc said oil and gas revenues for the three
months ended March 31 rose to 59.15 billion yuan ($9.5 billion),
from 55.31 billion yuan a year earlier, despite lower selling
prices for crude oil. The company didn't release first-quarter net
profit figures.
Net crude oil and natural gas output rose 15.5% in the first
quarter from the same period a year earlier, helped by an increase
in production from countries including the U.S.
Hong Kong-listed Cnooc, which still produces more oil and gas at
home than abroad despite aggressive overseas asset purchases, said
in January it is maintaining its 2011-2015 compounded annual output
growth projection at 6%-10%. It paid $15.1 billion last year for
Canada's Nexen Inc. and its large international portfolio of oil
and gas assets, in what was China's largest overseas
acquisition.
The average selling price of its crude oil fell 5.1% in the
first quarter, compared with the same period last year as global
oil prices weakened.
Barclays is upbeat about the company's outlook, noting in an
April 16 report that the company bought its first domestic deep
water gas field, Liwan-3, into production at the end of March, that
with as many as 10 projects coming on line later in 2014, these
could increase its output capacity by 170,000 barrels a day of oil
equivalent this year alone.
Cnooc is planning to drill 155 exploration wells this year,
including in deep-water areas of the South China Sea. The company
has been growing its technical skills including by working with
Husky Energy Inc. to develop the Liwan field.
Write to Wayne Ma at wayne.ma@wsj.com
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