SHANGHAI :CNOOC Ltd, China's top offshore oil and gas producer, plans to raise 35 billion yuan via a public share sale in Shanghai next month to fund oil and gas excavation as Beijing prioritises energy security amid rising geopolitical risks.
Hong Kong-listed CNOOC is taking advantage of soaring global oil prices as Russia's war on Ukraine pushed up already high inflation. CNOOC expects first-quarter profit to jump 62per cent-89per cent from a year earlier. "China's demand for oil and gas has been steadily rising, and its dependency on oil and gas imports increases every year ... The supply-demand situation is very grave," CNOOC said in its prospectus on Thursday.
CNOOC said it had no business in Ukraine, but its 10per cent stake in the Arctic LNG 2 project in Russia could be vulnerable to financial sanctions triggered by Russia's military operations.