...January 14, 2020 HONG KONG (S&P Global Ratings) Jan. 14, 2020--S&P Global Ratings said today that strong production growth and stringent cost controls will generate robust operating cash flow for CNOOC Ltd. (A+/Stable/--) to fund its rising capital expenditure. The China-based company expects to spend more on exploration activities to increase oil and gas reserves and support its production target of two million barrels of oil equivalents (mmboe) per day (or about 730 mmboe) by 2025. We believe CNOOC will maintain its financial discipline, such that its debt-to-EBITDA ratio stays below 1.0x under our current price assumptions. Management estimates production in full-year 2019 at 503 mmboe, which is 3% above the high end of production guidance of 480-490 mmboe given at the beginning of 2019. Management also raised its production targets for 3% annually in 2020 to 520-530 mmboe and in 2021 to about 555 mmboe, and introduced a target of about 590 mmboe for 2022. Volumes in 2019-2021 are 3%-4%...
