What’s new: China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), one of China’s big three state oil conglomerates that focuses on offshore oil and gas production, reported a 65.7% year-on-year slump in profits in the first half to 10.38 billion yuan ($1.5 billion), according to an interim report filed to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
The company’s revenue also shrank by 31.7% compared with the same period last year to 74.56 billion yuan. But its capital expenditures rose 5.6% year-on-year to 35.6 billion yuan despite its vow earlier this year to cut spending.
CNOOC produced 257.9 million barrels of oil equivalent in the first six months of the year, up by 6.1% from the same period last year. Its domestic oil production jumped 11.4% while overseas output decreased 3.5% year-on-year.
What’s the background: “Low oil prices coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic had a great impact on the production and operation of the Company,” Wang Dongjin, chairman of China National Offshore Oil Corp., said in the report.
The oil giant discovered five oil fields during the same time period, with the discovery of Huizhou 26-6 in the South China Sea marking the biggest oil and gas field discovery in the Pearl River Mouth basin.
Contact reporter Lu Yutong (yutonglu@caixin.com) and editor Marcus Ryder (marcusryder@caixin.com)
