China Shenhua Energy, the listed flagship of the nation's largest coal producer, reported a 17.2 per cent rise in net profit in the first half, thanks to higher sales and production volume. Profit attributable to shareholders was 26.74 billion yuan (HK$32.75 billion), while revenue rose 20.1 per cent year on year to 121.47 billion yuan in the first half. The company said it produced 155.8 million tonnes of commercial coal and sold 222.1 million tonnes, a year-on-year growth of 11 and 16.2 per cent respectively. Peggy Sito
Sino Oil and Gas, which is developing the Sanjiao project in Shanxi province with PetroChina to extract natural gas from coal seams, plans to spend 75 million yuan in the second half to drill up to 27 wells, said vice-president Volen He Hongbing. The company expects gas output to rise to 10 million cubic metres in the second half from 2 million cubic metres in the first half, increasing to 150 million to 200 million cubic metres in 2014. Eric Ng
Orient Overseas (International), parent of Orient Overseas Container Line, has delayed delivery by a year of two 8,600 20-foot equivalent unit container ships on order at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) in Shanghai. The ships, each costing US$120.7 million, were originally due to join the OOCL fleet in the fourth quarter next year, but delivery has been delayed until the fourth quarter of 2014 due to poor market conditions. Keith Wallis