China’s Offshore Oil Giant Sees Profits Jump By 89%

China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) reported on Thursday an 89.1% annual surge in its net profit for the third quarter, pushed up by higher oil and gas prices.

The net profit for Q3 nearly doubled to $5.1 billion (36.881 billion Chinese yuan) from $2.7 billion (19.508 billion yuan) for the third quarter of 2021.

Revenues surged by 53.7%, as the average realized prices for crude and liquids jumped by 36.1% year over year to $95.80 per barrel in the third quarter, and the average realized gas prices increased by 15.1%, CNOOC said.

“In the third quarter, the company has achieved remarkable results by seizing the favorable oil price cycle, to step up the efforts in exploration and development, to increase reserves and production, and to improve quality and efficiency. The company has managed to keep its cost at a competitive level and witnessed significant improvement in profitability,” CNOOC said in a statement commenting on the operational highlights for the third quarter and the first nine months of the year.

CNOOC’s total net production stood at 461.5 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) for January to September, up by 9.3% year over year and hitting a record high. In the third quarter, net production increased by 8.8% and reached 156.8 million boe, with production from China up by 6.8% and net production from overseas up by 13.5%, mainly attributable to the production from the Liza Phase II oilfield offshore Guyana and the Buzios oilfield in Brazil.

For the first nine months of the year, CNOOC’s unaudited oil and gas sales revenue jumped by 67.6% year-on-year to $36.8 billion (265.89 billion yuan), mainly due to the higher international oil prices and increased sales volumes. Net profit for the nine months to September more than doubled as it surged by 105.9% to $15 billion (108.77 billion yuan).

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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