China Energy Giant CNOOC 2013 Net Profit Down 11%

HONG KONG -- Chinese state-owned energy giant CNOOC (IW 1000/111) today posted a net profit drop of more than 11% for 2013, amid sluggish global and domestic economic growth.

Net profit for the 12 months ended Dec. 31, 2013 was 56.46 billion yuan ($9.09 billion), 11.35% less than the previous year's 63.69 billion yuan, CNOOC said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

"In 2013, amid complex economic conditions on both domestic and global fronts, the company achieved notable results and significant progress in exploration, development and production, and international development," group chairman Wang Yilin said in the statement.

China's largest offshore oil and gas producer successfully acquired Canada's Nexen (IW 1000/608) for $15.1 billion in February last year.

China, the biggest energy consumer in the world and second-biggest consumer of oil, has been snapping up resource assets across the globe in order to fuel breakneck growth.

CNOOC last week announced its first independent deep-water discovery in the South China Sea in the Qionggongnan Basin.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2014