CNOOC Ltd's net profit surged a forecast-beating 29 percent last year as China's dominant offshore oil producer benefited from higher oil and gas prices.

The results came despite a flat output last year which was caused by the suspension of its Penglai 19-3 field in Bohai Bay following an oil spill accident there. The net profit rose to a record high of 70.3 billion yuan (US$11 billion) last year, the Hong Kong-listed company said yesterday, beating a mean estimate of 68.7 billion yuan by 20 analysts polled by Bloomberg News.

CNOOC makes money from its upstream exploration and production, and it doesn't operate a refining business which has weighed on Sinopec and PetroChina because of government control on fuel prices. CNOOC's average realized oil price jumped 40.1 percent to US$109.75 per barrel last year.

Net production was 331.8 million barrels of oil equivalent, up 0.7 percent from 2010, after the closure of the Penglai field cost CNOOC 5.9 million barrels of output last year.

In January, the company reiterated its target of lifting output at a compound annual rate of 6-10 percent in the five years through 2015 due to deep-water development.

It has set a conservative output target of 330-340 million barrels this year.

Source:shanghaidaily