China's CNOOC bumps capital spending nearly 50 pct in Q1

SHANGHAI/SINGAPORE, April 25 (Reuters) - CNOOC Ltd's first-quarter capital spending jumped by 45.8 percent to 14.08 billion yuan ($2.09 billion), as China's national offshore producer ramped up its efforts in exploration and production.

The jump in capital expenditure in the first quarter came after CNOOC said in December 2018 that it planned on record spending for oil and gas exploration over the next few years.

Net oil and gas sales, however, fell 1 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier to 42 billion yuan, reflecting weaker crude oil prices compared with the same period last year.

CNOOC said its realized crude prices fell 4.3 percent in the first three months of 2019 compare to a year earlier to $60.78 per barrel, in line with global benchmarks.

CNOOC's crude oil output worldwide was stable at 98.3 million barrels in the first three months, the company said.

Natural gas output inched up to 126.5 billion cubic feet from 125.7 billion cubic feet in the same period last year.

($1 = 6.7400 yuan)

(Reporting by Meng Meng and Aizhu Chen; Editing by Tom Hogue)