2010-08-19 17:37

BEIJING - China National Offshore Oil Company Limited announced Thursday its annual net profit surged 109.6 percent in the first half of 2010 to 25.99 billion yuan ($3.83 billion).

Profits of the listed subsidiary of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) were only 12.4 billion yuan in the same period last year, according to a statement CNOOC filed to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The oil giant's earnings per share more than doubled to 0.58 yuan from a year ago.

Fu Chengyu, chairman and chief executive officer of China's biggest offshore oil producer by output, attributed the profit surge to strong production growth and higher international oil prices.

The company's net production of oil and gas rose by 40.8 percent year-on-year to 149 million barrels of oil equivalent in the first half.