China Oilfield Services Ltd more than doubled on its Shanghai trading debut today after investors ordered more than 300 times the shares offered by the unit of the nation's largest offshore oil explorer.

China Oilfield rose as much as 173 percent to 36.79 yuan (US$4.89) and was at 35.49 yuan at 11:02am. The Beijing-based company will use the 6.74 billion yuan in proceeds from the sale of 500 million shares at 13.48 yuan each to buy ships and drilling equipment.

COSL, with China National Offshore Oil Corporation controlling 62 percent of its stake, issued 500 million yuan-denominated shares, or 11.12 percent of its total 4.495 billion shares.

COSL, Asia's largest oilfield services provider, in November 2002 issued 561 million shares, raising over HK$1.04 billion when it debuted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

In the first half of 2007, COSL earned 1.1 billion yuan in net profits, up 63.4 percent over the same period last year. Its business volume rose 48.6 percent to 4.26 billion yuan.

A leading integrated oilfield services provider in China's offshore oil market, COSL operates offshore oil and gas prospecting, exploration and production services.

The other two Hong Kong-listed subsidiaries of CNOOC, CNOOC Limited and the Offshore Oil Engineering Co Ltd, are also preparing for a listing on Chinese mainland stock markets, according to CNOOC deputy general manager Luo Han.

(Shanghai Daily September 28, 2007)