China National Offshore Oil Corporation's stock price fell after one of the country's three oil giants said profit dropped 10.2 in the first three quarters of this year from a year ago despite increasing production but amid falling oil prices.

CNOOC [SHA: 600938] fell 3.7 percent to CNY19.49 (USD2.67) a share in Shanghai as of 2.20 p.m. today, after earlier dropping by as much as 3.9 percent.

Net profit was CNY97.6 billion (USD13.4 billion) in the nine months ended Sept. 30, the Beijing-based firm said yesterday. Revenue dipped 1.4 percent to CNY306.8 billion.

CNOOC's third-quarter net profit dropped 8.1 percent to CNY33.9 billion from a year earlier, while its income rose 5.5 percent to CNY114.8 billion, it pointed out.

Downward pressure on the global economy continued to mount in the first nine months of this year as European and American central banks kept raising interest rates, according to CNOOC. With the slow growth of global crude oil demand, major oil-producing countries maintained policies to reduce output, concerning the market about supply shortages in crude oil, it said.

Global oil prices have rebounded in the first three quarters from a year earlier but are still down after previous declines, CNOOC noted. The average price of Brent crude oil fell 20 percent to USD81.96 per barrel, and that of CNOOC's oil plunged 24 percent to USD76.84 per barrel, it pointed out.

CNOOC's average net realized gas price dipped 2.7 percent to USD7.92 per thousand cubic feet, mainly because of a drop in overseas realized natural gas prices with market price, it added.

CNOOC's net output reached a record high after jumping 8.3 percent to 499.7 million barrels of oil equivalent. Its domestic net output rose 6.7 percent to 345.5 million barrels, while overseas it rose 11.8 percent to 154.1 million barrels, it said. Net output in the third quarter jumped 7 percent to 167.8 million barrels of oil equivalent from a year earlier.