CNPC Overseas Oil Output Rose 3.5 Pct in H1

China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), the nation’s largest integrated oil and gas company, produced 50.52 million tons of oil equivalent overseas in the first half (H1) of this year, up 3.5 percent year-on-year, the company said on Monday.

The state-owned energy major noted that equity output reached 25.30 million tons in H1, an increase of 4.6 percent from a year earlier.

The company attributed the increases to a jump in production at some of its biggest overseas projects such as Iraq's Rumaila oilfield, which produced 12.06 million tons of crude oil in the first six months of this year, 1.93 million tons more than planned.

In June, CNPC began production roughly 15 months ahead of schedule at Halfaya, one of Iraq’s seven-largest oilfields, with an annual crude oil production capacity of five million tons.

While the unstable political situation in Syria and continuing international pressure on Iran is expected to have a negative impact on China’s oil imports, CNPC’s total overseas production is unlikely to decline this year, Li Yan, an industry analyst with Oilchem.net in Shandong Province, told Interfax on Monday. Iran, which is facing heavy sanctions from western nations, was the third-largest source of China’s oil imports in May.

CNPC will continue raising foreign oil and gas production due to the country’s growing demand and a lack of domestic resources, he added.

China's reliance on foreign crude oil hit 56 percent in 2011, but could grow to as high as 66 percent by 2020, Ke Xiaoming, deputy director of the Sinopec Economics & Development Research Institute’s Marketing Research Department, said in mid-June.

CNPC said it will continue expanding overseas to boost production and reserves。

Li sees growth mainly coming from CNPC's projects in Iraq and Venezuela, where greater production is still possible. The Middle East and Africa are also good targets, he said, without providing further details. (Interfax, Edited by Topco)