CNOOC profit record high on rising oil prices

China National Offshore Oil Corporation Limited (CNOOC) said Wednesday that its net profit jumped 29.1 percent year-on-year to reach a record-high of 70.26 billion yuan (11.17 billion U.S. dollars) last year on increasing oil and gas prices.

Benefiting from rising oil and gas prices, CNOOC's oil and gas sales revenue rose 29.5 percent from the previous year to 189.28 billion yuan, CNOOC said in its annual report published on its website.

The Hong Kong-listed company's earnings per share reached 1.57 yuan, while the board of directors proposed a year-end pretax dividend of 0.28 Hong Kong dollar pending the approval of shareholders.

The company's average oil price amounted to 109.75 U.S. dollars per barrel last year and the average natural gas price reached 5.15 U.S. dollars per 1,000 cubic feet, representing year-on-year increases of 40.8 percent and 14.7 percent, respectively.

CNOOC said its net production last year reached 331.8 million barrels of oil equivalent, up slightly by 0.7 percent, after overcoming various challenges, including the suspension of production due to the oil spill accident on Penglai 19-3 oilfield, which is operated under a production sharing contract.