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China's Top Offshore Oil Producer Sees Profits Soar
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?r=279&ctl=13CAAFD:A6F02AD83191E160FAE949624D8387519574F7DCC14957C0 China's biggest
offshore oil producer and the country's second-largest bank have
reported soaring profits China's biggest offshore oil producer and the
country's second-largest bank have reported soaring profits.

China's top offshore oil and gas producer, CNOOC, has posted a 38
percent jump in earnings for the first half of the year. The
better-than-expected results were driven by soaring energy prices and
higher output.

Oil and gas production at the state-owned company increased by more
than seven percent in the first six months of 2006 compared to a year
earlier.

CNOOC's chairman Fu Chengyu says the company achieved breakthroughs in
its overseas business development. Fu says CNOOC completed the
acquisition of a 45 percent stake in a Nigerian oil block and also
extended its exploration activities to Equatorial Guinea, Australia
and Kenya.

China's second-largest lender, the Bank of China, also posted positive
interim results. Higher lending in the booming Chinese economy was the
main driver behind the bank's 28 percent rise in first-half earnings.

In other banking news, the Bangladesh government has agreed to sell
control of the country's fourth largest bank to a Saudi prince. Prince
Bandar Bin Mohammad Bin Abdul Rahman offered $330 million for a 67
percent stake in state-owned Rupali Bank. The bank has almost 500
branches across Bangladesh.

And the consumer finance unit of U.S. company General Electrics has
bought a 25 percent stake in Thailand's Bank of Ayudhya. G.E. Money
will pay close to $600 million for the shares. Bank of Ayudhya is
Thailand's sixth largest bank


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