Cnooc, China’s third-largest oil producer, is to cut capital spending by up to 35 per cent this year compared with 2014, in the first such announcement by a Chinese energy company following the plunge in crude prices.
Many western oil groups have already announced plans to cut spending, but Asian companies have been slower to announce changes following the 50 per cent fall in crude prices since last summer.
Cnooc, the most market-orientated of China’s three state-owned oil companies, said on Tuesday it will reduce this year’s capital spending to Rmb70bn to Rmb80bn ($11.2bn-$12.8bn), a drop of between 26 per cent and 35 per cent compared with 2014, “to preserve the company’s health in 2015 and beyond”, said Zhong Hua, chief financial officer.