CNOOC Ltd, China's largest offshore oil producer, Friday stuck to a production growth target of 16-17 percent a year until 2005.

　　The company aims to produce 170-175 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) in 2005, compared to the 95.4 million it turned out in 2001, said Chief Financial Officer Mark Qiu. "It's a visible target," Qiu said. "I reaffirm to you we can produce 170-175 million BOE in 2005."

　　The firm also expects to achieve annual output growth of at least 3 to 4 percent in 2006, he said.

　　On Friday shares in CNOOC, a component of the blue-chip Hang Senginde, dropped 4.19 percent to HK$10.30, partly due to a fall in oil prices in New York Thursday. This concerns some investors who are worried about CNOOC's growth prospects, analysts said.

　　Several analysts have said CNOOC's targets are ambitious but others suggested the sell-off was profit-taking on the oil price drop. Shares in Hong Kong and New York-listed CNOOC have jumped by half since June last year, although they are down from last month's high of HK$11.80.

　　"People are sitting on a lot of profits...Fundamentally, the company is still very sound," said Richard Wong, a fund manager at HSBC Asset Management, which holds shares in all three Chinese oil majors, including PetroChina and Sinopec Corp.

　　Qiu said CNOOC would start production on two or three projects in 2003, including the DF1-1 gas project off the coast of the island province of Hainan and the PY4-2, PY5-1 oilfields in the waters south of Guangdong Province.

　　Around the start of 2004, CNOOC's QK18-2 oil field in the Bohai Sea should also start production, Qiu said, adding that the company plans to finish six or seven projects in 2004, three or four in 2005, and two projects in 2006.

　　Charles Chang, an energy analyst at Fitch Ratings, said, "The question is whether or not they are going to achieve double-digit production growth, and I think there is strong prospect for that."

　　Qiu also said that CNOOC expects to close a deal to buy 5 percent of the reserves of Australia's huge North West Shelf gas project for US$320 million by the end of the year. The Australian deal will contribute six to seven million BOEs to CNOOC's output in 2006.

　　The deal, which will mark CNOOC's second overseas acquisition this year, will give it an additional 1.1 trillion cubic feet, or 210 million BOEs, in gas reserves.

　　Beijing recently selected the North West Shelf to supply gas to China's first planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, which will come on line in 2005 in Guangdong.

　　CNOOC, which in April bought the Indonesian assets of Spanish oil major Repsol-YPF for US$585 million, had proven net reserves of 1.8 billion BOE at the end of last year.

　　Qui said CNOOC remains in exclusive talks with BP to buy into its Tangguh gas field in Indonesia, which is expected to be chosen by the Chinese Government to supply LNG to a planned second LNG terminal in China's Fujian Province.

　　CNOOC expects to strike a deal with BP "soon," Qiu said, declining to reveal any further details. (SD-Agencies)