OREANDA-NEWS. July 06, 2011. QatarGas, the world's largest liquefied natural gas company, has received approval from China's National Development and Reform Commission to negotiate with CNOOC Ltd, the largest offshore oil producer in China, on LNG supply, and the two companies expect to finalize the negotiation before the end of this year, sources reported.

However, QatarGas still yet finalized the agreements with PetroChina Co Ltd, said Abdulla Hijji, a representative of Qatargas said on the sidelines of a conference in Beijing, adding that discussions with PetroChina will only begin after a deal is reached with CNOOC.

In November 2009, CNOOC and PetroChina, the country's largest oil producer, separately inked memorandums of understanding with QatarGas to purchase a combined 7 million tons of LNG a year.

CNOOC posted RMB 54.41 billion-net profit attributable to shareholders for 2010, 84.53% more than RMB 29.49 billion in 2009.

Earnings per share were RMB 1.22 and a final dividend of HKD0.25 per share has been declared.

Last year, the Hong Kong-listed firm booked RMB 183.1 billion in operating revenue, up 74% from a year earlier, and its operating profit surged 77% year on year to RMB 71.4 billion.