BEIJING – China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), the country’s biggest offshore oil and gas producer, reported strong revenue growth for the third quarter mainly due to rising prices for crude oil and natural gas.

The unaudited revenue from oil and gas sales in the third quarter rose 16.9 percent to about 35.94 billion yuan ($5.42 billion), the company said in a report.

Average price of crude oil sold by the company surged 20.4 percent in the third quarter to $50.87 per barrel, while price for natural gas sales rose 15.9 per cent from a year earlier. The price increases were mainly driven by higher international oil prices, a rise in sales of high-priced gas projects at home and higher overseas benchmark gas prices, it said. In contrast to the strong revenue growth, the company’s net output fell 1.3 per cent year on year to 116.2 million barrels of oil equivalent in the third quarter.

Xinhua.