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CNOOC Q1 revenue up 61.8% to 24.03b yuan

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-04-29 15:18

China National Offshore Oil Corporation Ltd (CNOOC) said its first quarter to March unaudited revenue was 24.03 billion yuan ($3.44 billion), up 61.8 percent from the same period of 2007, mainly due to production growth and higher realized oil and gas prices.

The country's top offshore oil producer achieved a net daily production of 496,753 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) for the period, an increase of 5 percent from the same period in 2007.

In the first quarter, the company produced 392,722 barrels of crude oil and liquids per day, up 3.7 percent year-on-year while daily gas production reached 601 million cubic feet, an increase of 9.3 percent.

The net production in offshore China increased by 6.3 percent year-on-year, mainly attributable to good reservoir management and new projects on stream in 2007, the company said.

However, overseas oil output, especially in Indonesia, dropped, partly as a result of high oil prices, said Yang Hua, CNOOC's chief financial officer.

Yang said the company's share of overseas production contracts tends to fall as prices rise.

For the first quarter, CNOOC's average realized oil price rose 69.2 percent to $88.76 per barrel, in line with surging international oil prices in the same period.

Its average realized gas price for the period was $3.65 per thousand cubic feet, up 14.3 percent year-on-year.

For the first quarter, the company's capital expenditure remained flat at 6.1 billion yuan.

During the period, CNOOC made four new discoveries. Among the discoveries, Weizhou 6-3, Qinhuangdao 35-2 and Wenchang 19-1N were its own while Lufeng 7-2 was discovered by a partner.

The company also said it made two successful appraisals.

On the development front, Weizhou 11-4N commenced production in February and Xijiang 23-1, one of its major projects this year, is ready for production.

Yang said the company stands by its 195-199 million BOE output guidance this year.

He added the company is confident of resolving a tax dispute surrounding its Nigerian project, though he gave no other details.

CNOOC said in its annual report earlier this month that it was in a dispute a Nigerian local tax office regarding its $2.3 billion deal to buy a 45 percent stake in a licence from South Atlantic Petroleum.

Yang said the company hopes the Chinese government will raise the threshold for the windfall tax on oil sales.

"The company is currently communicating with relevant government agencies," he said.

Since March 2006 the government has collected a windfall tax of 20 to 40 percent on the portion of the price of a barrel of oil above $40.