CNOOC Posts Record H1 Profit With Chairman Pledging Maximum Output Push in Second Half
Net profit up 23.4% to RMB85.8 billion gives CNOOC financial headroom for its declared H2 reserves and production drive.
CNOOC's quarterly report, filed Wednesday (2026-09-09), showed the Chinese offshore producer earned net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB85.8 billion in the first half of 2026, a 23.4% rise year on year, as operating revenue jumped 16.9% to RMB242.7 billion. The numbers confirm a company generating substantial cash just as its chairman has signalled an aggressive production posture for the remainder of the year.4
Chairman Zhang Chuanjiang, in a statement posted to CNOOC's website during the week of 2026-08-24, said the company "will spare no effort" to raise reserves and production through year-end. The language is unusually direct for a Chinese state enterprise, where output targets are generally presented as planned objectives rather than rallying calls. ICE Brent crude front-month was trading at $101.95 per barrel on Wednesday (2026-09-09), well above the $85.49 average realized oil price CNOOC logged across the whole of H1 — meaning current prices, if sustained, reinforce the economics of accelerating output.3
Oil and gas sales revenue climbed 20% to 206.1 billion yuan in the first half. The crude side drove that gain: CNOOC's average realized oil price rose 23.6% to $85.49 per barrel over the period. Gas was a different story. The company's realized natural gas price increased just 1.3%, a gap that will matter if H2 output additions lean on gas-weighted reservoirs, which much of CNOOC's newer domestic capacity is.2
Approximately 69% of the company's net production came from China in H1 2026, underlining how far CNOOC has tilted toward domestic output even as it maintains positions in Brazil and Indonesia. That concentration reflects both Beijing's strategic imperative to reduce dependence on imported barrels and the genuine resource base available to CNOOC in Chinese offshore waters.4
Domestic production capacity has been built methodically. On Wednesday (2026-05-27), CNOOC brought full Phase One production online at the Kenli 10-2 oilfield cluster in the south Bohai Sea, yielding more than 20,500 barrels per day of crude. That project is one example of the incremental additions accumulating across Chinese offshore fields that have kept the domestic share of output above two-thirds.1
The quarterly report also cited breakthroughs in heavy oil thermal recovery, low-permeability fracturing, and ultra-deep extended-reach drilling. These are not cosmetic disclosures. Heavy oil thermal recovery and low-permeability fracturing directly address reservoir types that conventional methods cannot drain efficiently, expanding the producible resource base without requiring new acreage. The company also said it has formulated a scenario blueprint for a "Digital & Intelligent CNOOC" initiative, though no production-linked targets were attached to that programme in the report.4
The price environment cuts both ways. CNOOC benefited from crude prices that ran above its H1 realized average. But the 1.3% rise in its realized gas price compared with crude's near-24% gain reflects a domestic gas pricing structure that has not tracked global spot moves in the same way. JKM Asian LNG front-month stood at $24.38 per MMBtu on Wednesday (2026-09-09), elevated by historical standards, yet CNOOC's domestic gas sales are priced through mechanisms that dilute exposure to international spot benchmarks.2,4
The H2 push carries a reserves dimension that is as important as flow rates. Zhang's pledge to raise reserves, not just production, signals an intention to add proved barrels to the balance sheet before year-end. Reserves additions require not just drilling success but regulatory certification of proved geological volumes, a process that can lag physical production by months. CNOOC's quarterly report pointed to technical progress in areas where proved reserves have historically been harder to establish — heavy oil, low-permeability formations, ultra-deep targets. Whether those advances translate to booked reserves before December 31 will be the metric worth tracking alongside the production figures.3,4
The number to watch in coming quarterly disclosures is how much of the H2 output increment comes from China versus overseas. At 69% domestic in H1, any further concentration would reinforce Beijing's self-sufficiency drive — but it would also mean CNOOC's production volumes become more sensitive to domestic regulatory conditions and less diversified by basin risk.4