China’s biggest offshore producer of oil and gas expects its 2014 net crude-oil and natural-gas production to rise by 2.4%-5.6% and to sharply increase its capital spending as it seeks to expand domestic and overseas operations. The Hong Kong-listed Cnooc Ltd. said Monday that is maintaining its 2011-2015 compound annual growth projection of 6%-10%. It didn’t raise the projection despite having acquired significant gas assets last year with the purchase of Canada’s Nexen Inc. for US$15.1 billion, the largest overseas acquisition to date by a Chinese company. “Experiencing the upward trend on costs in the industry this year, the company will utilize capital more prudently through the capex plan to support the development of the company in the future,” Cnooc Chief Financial Officer Zhong Hua said. Beijing-based Cnooc is targeting net production of 422 million-435 million barrels of oil equivalent this year, up from a 2013 estimate of […]