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CNOOC pretax profit up on units' higher sales

By Fu Chenghao (Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2007-02-02 15:41

China National Offshore Oil Corp has said its pretax profit rose nearly a quarter last year as its energy, oil service and chemical units posted higher sales.

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Profit climbed 24 percent from a year earlier to 48.1 billion yuan (US$6.2 billion) in 2006 while sales gained 36 percent to 120.8 billion yuan, the company said in a statement late on Wednesday.

"In 2006, we were advancing fast, with every operational targets being met," said the company, parent ofHong Kong-listed units CNOOC Ltd, China Oilfield Services Ltd andChina BlueChemical Ltd.

The company has said it would not stop expanding overseas after it lost the bid for Unocal Corp of the United States to Chevron Corp in 2005. For example, the COSL unit has acquired STU, an oil service firm, in Russia last year, it said. The group now has operations in 12 countries.

Total assets of CNOOC added 29 percent to 247.4 billion yuan by the end of 2006, it said.

"Figures are not bad," said Wang Jing, an analyst at Orient Securities. "I think non-energy exploration and production units like oil service and fertilizer are becoming increasingly important in driving up the group's earnings."