China’s Cnooc to raise spending for first time since oil’s plunge

HONG KONG: Cnooc Ltd plans to raise capital spending for the first time since crude began its crash in 2014 as China’s biggest offshore oil and gas producer prepares for life after the slump.

The Beijing-based explorer will increase expenditure to 60 billion to 70 billion yuan (US$8.7bil to US$10.2bil) for 2017 after cuts in the last two years, according to a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange yesterday. It set its production target to between 450 million and 460 million barrels of oil equivalent after last year posting the first output decline since at least 1999.