China's CNOOC Limited, the listed subsidiary of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), said Wednesday its net profit dropped 55 percent from a year ago to 12.4 billion yuan (US$1.82 billion), or 0.28 yuan per share, in the first half.

The profit decline, down from 27.54 billion yuan a year earlier, was a result of lower crude oil prices in the first half, as the global financial crisis led to a world recession that curbed demand for fuel, despite a rise in oil and gas output, China's biggest offshore oil and gas producer told the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The company's revenue fell 42 percent year on year to 40.65 billion yuan.

The oil producer said its oil and gas output rose 15.2 percent to 105.8 million barrels of oil equivalent in the first six months.

But its average selling price of crude oil was US$49.35 a barrel in the first half, down 52 percent from US$102.5 a barrel in the first half last year.

Despite the profit drop, Chairman Fu Chengyu expressed optimism about the company's future growth.

"2009 will become the company's next milestone in its history of stable growth," Fu said.

He expected the company's net output to increase 15 percent for the whole year, and announced the beginning of 10 new production projects within the year.

(Xinhua News Agency August 27, 2009)