China's top offshore oil and gas driller CNOOC Ltd said on Thursday its first-half net profit more than tripled from a low base last year, supported by rebounding oil prices and recovering energy demand after the pandemic.
CNOOC Ltd, a listed branch of China National Offshore Oil Crop, said net profit reached 33.33 billion yuan ($5.13 billion), up 221 per cent from a year ago and from 25.48 billion yuan in 2019. It was the highest profit since the first half of 2014.
Revenue in the first half of 2021 jumped 48 per cent from a year earlier to 110.23 billion yuan, following a 52 per cent rise in oil and gas sales.
Benchmark WTI prices, which plunged to below zero at one point in April last year, hovered near $70 a barrel in the second quarter of 2021.
CNOOC, one of the industry's lowest-cost explorers and producers, said its all-in production cost was $28.98 per barrel, up from $26.34 in 2020, due to "rising commodity prices and other factors".
Oil and gas production hit a fresh record high of 278.1 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), up 7.9 per cent year on year, boosted by several new projects in Bohai Bay and the South China Sea.
CNOOC also started operations at Lingshui 17-2, an ultra-deep field in the South China Sea with proven reserves of 100 billion cubic meters, in June.
The company plans capital spending in 2021 of 90-100 billion yuan, the highest level since 2014, and has set a target to churn out 528 million boe of oil and gas this year.
Its capital expenditure in the first half was 36 billion yuan.
The company announced a dividend of HK$0.30 per share.
