China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), the country's largest offshore oil producer, said on Monday its net profit rose 35.2 percent in the first half of 2008 because of higher world crude oil prices and increased crude output.

Net profit hit 18.95 billion yuan (2.78 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half and sales revenue grew 48 percent to 106.33 billion yuan, CNOOC said in a statement.

The company's crude oil and natural gas output was up 2.4 percent year on year to 20.7 million tonnes of oil equivalent.

World crude prices have surged more than 50 percent since November and now hovered around 130 U.S. dollars per barrel.

Higher crude prices, however, also added to the company's cost of sales, which increased 52.9 percent in the first six months, it said.

The company paid 30.32 billion yuan in taxes during this period, up 73.1 percent from a year earlier.

(Xinhua News Agency July 22, 2008)