(Yicai Global) Oct. 28 -- China National Offshore Oil Corporation will consider all options, the chief financial officer of the Chinese oil and gas giant said after reports claimed the firm is planning to sell its assets in the UK.

No option is off the table, as long as the price is suitable and the deal is in the interests of the shareholders, Xie Weizhi said at a conference earnings call yesterday, in response to a question from news outlet The Paper about the alleged UK assets sale.

Media reports claimed in March that CNOOC was considering divesting the UK North Sea portfolio. Recently, Norwegian state-owned energy company Equinor was said to be mulling purchasing CNOOC’s oilfields in the UK North Sea for between NOK20 billion and NOK30 billion (USD2 billion and USD3 billion) before the end of the year.

Speculations about CNOOC’s sale of its UK assets have been circulating for a long time, Xie added, noting that Equinor is not the only potential buyer.

The company adheres to the global presence and exploration principles, so it will not limit operations in a specific area nor deliberately withdraw from a region, Xie said. CNOOC has been seeking to optimize its oil and gas portfolio, and divestment is a common practice in the industry, he pointed out.

CNOOC invested in various world-class oil and gas projects overseas, owning assets in over 20 countries and areas, including Iraq, Argentina, the US, Canada, the UK, Brazil, and Russia, according to the Beijing-based firm’s interim results released in early September.

Net profit at CNOOC more than doubled to CNY108.8 billion (USD15.1 billion) in the first three quarters from a year earlier, per the financial report released yesterday. Oil and gas sales jumped 68 percent to CNY265.9 billion in the period, buoyed by higher international oil prices and larger sales volume.

CNOOC’s net capacity rose 9.3 percent to a record of 461.5 million barrels of oil equivalent in the first nine months from the same period a year ago, with nearly 30 percent of the total produced overseas, the earnings results showed yesterday.

Editor: Futura Costaglione