Jan. 25, 2007 (China Knowledge) - China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) recorded an annual profit of RMB 185.6 billion last year in addition to surging oil production overseas, Shanghai Securities News said.

The State-owned company’s 2006 profit was a 4.88% increase from RMB 176.97 billion in 2005. It also posted RMB 806.1 billion of revenue for 2006, up 16.2% from a year earlier.

CNPC, which is the nation's top oil producer, started energy energy-exploration projects for the first time in Equatorial Guinea, Uzbekistan and Argentina last year. The company now has projects in 26 countries, forming five major work regions including Africa, Central Asia, South America, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.

It also signed nine overseas contracts last year, bringing the total to 69 by the end of 2006, said the company, which is the parent of Hong Kong-listed PetroChina Co.

Crude output at CNPC's overseas operations rose 52.4% to 54.6 million tons last year, said a report by Xinhua news agency, citing executive speeches at the company's annual work conference yesterday.

The amount surpassed that of Daqing, China's flagship oilfield, which pumped 43.4 million tons of crude last year.