China Oilfield Services Ltd. (COSL) announced Wednesday its net profit rose 61.7 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters of the year.

Its net profit in the first three quarters was 2.75 billion yuan (US$402.64 million), said the company in its quarterly report.

Earning per share was 0.61 yuan, up 45.2 percent over the same period last year.

Business income in the first nine months hit 8.19 billion yuan, representing an increase of 23.1 percent over the same period last year.

Yuan Guangyu, CEO and president of the company, said COSL maintained a sound development this year with successful acquisition of Norway's Awilco Offshore ASA (AWO) and the application of new technology

COSL announced in September it had completed acquisition of AWO for 17.1 billion yuan. After the acquisition, the AWO was merged into COSL Norweigian AS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of COSL.

Yuan said COSL will prudently but actively seek more development opportunities worldwide and explore new markets and businesses.

COSL is the listed arm of the China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC Group), the country's biggest offshore oil producer.

(Xinhua News Agency October 30, 2008)