HONG KONG — China’s state-owned CNOOC says first half-profit rose 8 per cent on higher oil and gas output after buying Canada’s Nexen.
Chairman Wang Yilin said Tuesday the company is now focused on integrating Nexen and getting ready for a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The $15.1 billion purchase of Nexen, which closed in February, was China’s biggest-ever overseas energy acquisition.
The deal was part of a broader trend of Chinese resource companies making foreign acquisitions as part of a global strategy to gain better access to the key commodities needed to fuel China’s economy, the world’s second biggest.
CNOOC Ltd. posted a 34.4 billion yuan ($5.6 billion) profit, or 0.77 yuan a share, in the January-June period. Oil and gas sales rose 16 per cent to 110.8 billion yuan, more than offsetting higher operating costs.
Beijing-based CNOOC is China’s main offshore energy producer. It produced 198.1 million barrels of oil and gas in the first half, including 24.8 million from Nexen.
CNOOC’s purchase of Nexen, a mid-tier energy company, secured it assets in western Canada — including big reserves in the oil sands — the Gulf of Mexico, North Sea, Africa and the Middle East.
“For the first half of the year, the transaction has already contributed to the production of the company,” Wang said in a statement.