Oil producer's income up 16pc year on year, profit growth slower

CNOOC - China's dominant offshore oil producer - reported a 16 per cent year-on-year rise in revenues to 16.77 billion yuan (about HK$15.8 billion) in the first nine months of the year.

However, a 10.3 per cent fall in the realised oil price to US$22.82 per barrel implied a smaller rise in profit.

Chief financial officer Mark Qiu Zilei said the company recorded a net profit of more than US$700 million, but did not reveal the exact figure.

A year-on-year nine-month profit comparison is not available as the company is not required under local listing rules to disclose quarterly results.

Crude oil sales revenues rose 16.5 per cent year on year to 14.73 billion yuan in the nine months, as natural gas revenues increased 34.5 per cent to 1.69 billion yuan.

The volume of oil sold rose 26.5 per cent and that of gas climbed 31.8 per cent, making an overall oil and gas volume growth of 27.4 per cent.

Mr Qiu said the company was confident it would outperform the 125 to 130 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) of oil and gas to be sold for the whole of this year, partly due to the better than expected performance of its newly acquired Indonesian assets.