China’s CNOOC to boost oil and gas output amid Middle East strife

China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), the country’s largest producer of offshore crude oil and natural gas, aims to further boost production this year amid geopolitical tensions and rising oil prices.The plan came after the state-backed company reported an 11.5 per cent drop in net profit to 122.08 billion yuan (US$17.7 billion) in 2025, owing to low oil prices during the year, even though it produced record-high volumes of the commodities. Its revenue in the period also dipped by about 5.3 per cent to 398.22 billion yuan.CNOOC said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing on Thursday that it would produce 780 million to 800 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) this year. That would be an increase of up to 3 per cent from 2025’s record of 777.3 million BOE, which represented 7 per cent growth from a year earlier.The higher target comes amid “heightened geopolitical risks and successive waves of regional conflicts and uncertainty”, said CNOOC chairman Zhang Chuanjiang in the company’s results statement, adding that these factors were set to increase oil prices markedly, making it the right time to expand production.This year, with oil supply constrained by the US-Israel war on Iran, the commodity’s price has been climbing. Brent Crude Oil was trading at nearly US$106 per barrel on Thursday.In 2025, CNOOC said, the average price of Brent crude was US$68.20 per barrel, representing a year-on-year decrease of about 14.6 per cent from 2024.“In 2026, we will solidify our development foundation by increasing oil and gas reserves and production,” Zhang said.