NEWS
CNOOC seeks LNG assets as profits rise
Hong Kong, Aug 30 (LNG journal)
- CNOOC Ltd., the third-largest Chinese oil and gas company, reported a 69 percent surge in first-half earnings and said it was seeking more participation in the liquefied natural gas business.
State-run CNOOC, which recently dropped an $18.5 billion bid to buy Unocal Corp. in the face of US political opposition, said it continues to search for overseas energy assets and boosted its profits on soaring crude prices, despite market fears that it could miss full-year production targets.
“It's not easy in this environment,” said Chief Financial Officer Yang Hua. “We are actively seeking LNG-linked upstream assets.”
CNOOC and its parent company are leading an expansion of LNG supplies in China and is proposing seven plants from Guangdong province in the south to Tianjin near Beijing .
CNOOC said it earned a record net $1.46 billion for the six months to June 30 and its net production offshore from China rose 20.1 percent to 383,583 barrels of oil equivalent.
The company aims to replace 150 percent of the oil and gas reserves it depletes this year, Yang said, and it made four new oil discoveries in the first half. The cost of pumping each barrel of oil rose to $6.21 from $5.20 a year earlier, Yang added.
