China's three major state-owned oil companies have reported a combined crude oil output of 1.23 billion barrels, nearly 174 million tons, and gas output of 1.48 trillion cubic feet in 2005, hitting record high in recent years.

 

PetroChina Company Limited, a holding company of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), produced 823 million barrels of crude oil in 2005, with an annual growth of 1.1 percent and 1.12 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, with a growth of 27.8 percent.

 

The total oil and gas output of PetroChina in 2005 was equivalent to 1.01 billion barrels of oil, growing by 5.1 percent year on year.

 

The newly released annual report of China National Offshore Oil Company Limited, the holding company of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), said that it produced the equivalent of 154.8 million barrels of oil in 2005, an annual growth of 10.6 percent.

 

CNOOC Ltd turned out 130 million barrels of crude oil and 142 billion cubic feet of natural gas in 2005.

 

According to the operational data of China Petroleum and Chemical Company Limited, it produced 279 million barrels of crude oil in 2005, up 1.7 percent year on year and 221.92 billion cubic feet of natural gas, up 7.2 percent.

 

Analysts said that the rising international oil price of about US$60 per barrel in the past year is the fundamental incentive for oil producers to increase their output.

 

PetroChina reported record net profits of 133.36 billion yuan (US$16.46 billion) in 2005, up 28.4 percent, and CNOOC Ltd reported profits of 25.323 billion yuan, up 57 percent year on year.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 29, 2006)