Total has said it will give priority to offshore projects in China in cooperation with CNOOC.

"Deep offshore exploration and production will be the potential growth engine for CNOOC," Lui said. "The South China Sea is a potential oil field for future development."

CNOOC is determined to produce 80 million tons of oil at both home and abroad by 2010.

While offshore projects have great potential, it is hard to predict to what extent deep-sea oil fields will contribute to CNOOC's future business until substantial exploration results are available, Liu added.

Risks involved with deep offshore projects are usually greater than oil fields on land because more than 70 percent of offshore exploration investment does not bring results. CNOOC still plans to risk more investment this year in offshore exploration, Liu said.

CNOOC's sales hit record of 120.8 billion yuan last year, up 36 percent from the year before. The firm's 2006 profit was 48.1 billion yuan.

(China Daily 02/03/2007 page10)

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