CNPC to boost natural gas output this year

China National Petroleum Corp, the country's biggest oil and gas producer, plans to increase natural gas production this year and maintain crude output near 2015 levels.

Natural gas output will go "higher" and oil production will remain "stable," Deputy General Manager Wang Dongjin was quoted as saying in a statement posted on the company's website. Details weren't provided.

The Beijing-based company has a "limited amount" of money to invest this year and will spend on oil and gas exploration and projects that improve efficiency or promote sales, it said.

Producers are struggling after oil's plunge to a 12-year low on the global market. The price collapse has delayed $380 billion worth of investments on 68 major upstream projects, according to industry consultant Wood Mackenzie Ltd, and has forced suppliers from BHP Billiton Ltd to BP Plc to write down the value of assets and fire workers.

CNOOC Ltd, China's biggest offshore oil explorer, has announced a cut in oil output this year for the first time since at least 1999.

CNPC produced 260 million tons of oil and gas equivalent in 2015 and processed 196 million tons of oil products, according to the statement. The company aims to reduce costs by 10 percent for oil and gas production, refining, sales and transmission.

CNPC's overseas oil and gas output rose 10.5 percent to 72.02 million tons last year, with about one-third coming from Iraq, CNPC said in a separate statement on Thursday.