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 Corp, said net profit reached 33.33 billion yuan ($5.13 billion), up 221% 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% from a year earlier to 110.23 billion yuan, following a 52% 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% 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. ($1 = 6.4954 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Muyu Xu and Chen Aizhu; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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