China National Offshore Oil Company Limited (CNOOC Ltd.) said Wednesday that its total net production increased 31.9 percent year on year to 67.3 million barrels of oil equivalent in the first quarter.

The total unaudited revenue of CNOOC Ltd. in the first three months of 2010 surged 118.5 percent to 30.49 billion yuan (4.46 billion U.S. dollars) due to soaring crude oil prices and increased output, said the company in a statement released on its web site.

In the first quarter, CNOOC Ltd. produced 55 million barrels of crude oil and liquid petroleum products, up 30.4 percent from the same period of last year, while natural gas production stood at 71.6 billion cubic feet, up 41.4 percent.

The growth in production was mainly due to new output from projects that came on stream in 2008 and 2009, as well as the outstanding performance of existing oil and gas fields, said the company.

The average realized oil price rose 81.4 percent from a year ago in the first quarter to 75.37 U.S. dollars per barrel and price of natural gas was 13.9 percent to 4.43 U.S. dollars per thousand cubic feet.

CNOOC Ltd., produced 227.7 million barrels of oil equivalent in 2009.

The company has made five new oil and gas discoveries offshore China in the first quarter and completed the drilling of five appraisal wells with its partners.

In the first quarter, CNOOC International Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC Ltd., also announced its pending acquisition of 50 percent of Bridas Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Argentina-based Bridas Energy Holdings (BEH), for 3.1 billion U.S. dollars.

The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2010 subject to, amongst others, necessary Chinese government and regulatory approvals, said the company.

Incorporated in Hong Kong, CNOOC Ltd. is a listed subsidiary of China National Offshore Oil Corporation, China's largest offshore oil producer. Its Hong Kong shares dropped 1.75 percent to close at 13.5 Hong Kong dollars on Wednesday.