CNOOC says 2007 pre-tax profit rises 17.5 pct

BEIJING, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Pre-tax profit at Chinese offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC Ltd (0883.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) rose 17.5 percent in 2007 to 56.5 billion yuan, the company said on Saturday.

Revenue rose 32.5 percent to 160 billion yuan, boosted by high international crude oil prices, the country's No. 3 oil producer said on its Web site.

CNOOC President Fu Chengyu announced the figures at a company meeting, the firm said.

State-backed CNOOC (CEO.N: Quote, Profile, Research), China National Offshore Oil Corp, increased production by 0.2 percent to 40.46 million tonnes of oil equivalent.

The firm gave no 2007 net profit figure.

CNOOC is expected to report a fall in net profit of 1 percent to 30.6 billion yuan, according to the average forecast of 17 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.

Gains from investing in the Chinese share market totalled 3.4 billion yuan in 2007, equivalent to 6.37 percent of pre-tax profit compared with 1.3 percent in 2006, Xinhua news agency reported.

Xiao Zongwei, head of investor relations at CNOOC Ltd, said the company would increase investment in deepwater exploration this year, according to Xinhua.

It quoted Xiao as saying said that CNOOC had a good chance of discovering large oil and gas reserves in the deep waters of the northern South China Sea because geological conditions were similar to those of the major Liwan 3-1 natural gas field.