Operator  操作员

Welcome to 2024 CNOOC Annual Results Announcement. Please allow me to introduce the management today. CFO, Chairman, Mr. Wang Dongjin; Vice Chairman and CEO, Mr. Zhou Xinhuai; Managing Director, Mr. Yan Hongtao; Independent Non-Executive Director, Mr. Lin Boqiang; Secretary of the Board, Mr. Xu Yugao; Managing Director of the Finance Department, Ms. Wang Yufan.

欢迎参加 2024 年中海油年度业绩发布会。请允许我介绍今天的管理层。首席财务官、董事长王东晋先生；副董事长兼首席执行官周新怀先生；常务董事阎洪涛先生；独立非执行董事林伯强先生；董事会秘书徐玉高先生；财务部常务董事王玉凡女士。

Today, we are going to have three parts to begin with, Mr. Wang will have the opening speech followed by Ms. Wang's review to the financial performance and operation review. It will be wrapped up with the Q&A which will be interpreted consecutively.

今天，我们将分为三个部分开始，王先生将进行开场演讲，接着是王女士对财务表现和运营的回顾。最后将进行问答环节，问答将进行逐步翻译。

Now I pass the floor to Mr. Wang.

现在我把时间交给王先生。

Wang Dongjin  王东进

Distinguished shareholders, analysts and media friends, good afternoon. It is my great honor to join with you at this great timing of spring and share with you the performance of CNOOC in 2024. In 2024, CNOOC enhanced the productivity and the quality as well as the efficiency. In the meantime, we mitigated the risk and reduced the cost. Production amount, reserve amount made the historical high. Cost competitive edge has been consolidated and we maintained the performance through the very tough cycles of economy and created values. On one hand, we enhanced the quality and the production development of oil and fuel and on the other hand, we enhanced the new productivity through technology-driven and digital-driven transformation. We adhere to the low carbon green development and explore the green transformation paths. Spare no effort in combining oil and field with the emerging industry, we maintain the high quality standard, safety standard and safeguarding the bottom line of safety, we are committed with the high quality of corporate governance and attach great importance on the market value management.

尊敬的股东、分析师和媒体朋友们，下午好。能够在这个春天的美好时刻与大家分享 2024 年中国海洋石油总公司的业绩，我感到非常荣幸。在 2024 年，中国海洋石油总公司提升了生产力、质量和效率。同时，我们降低了风险和成本。生产量和储量达到了历史新高。成本竞争优势得到了巩固，我们在经济的艰难周期中保持了业绩并创造了价值。一方面，我们提升了石油和燃料的质量和生产开发，另一方面，我们通过技术驱动和数字驱动的转型增强了新的生产力。我们坚持低碳绿色发展，探索绿色转型路径。我们不遗余力地将石油和领域与新兴产业结合，保持高质量标准、安全标准，确保安全底线，我们致力于高质量的公司治理，并高度重视市场价值管理。

The Board of Directors has reviewed CNOOC market value management measures. In 2024, the profitability of the company maintained at the rather high level. The profit attribute to the parent company, in RMB, 137.9 billion RMB, we are proactively sharing the results of development. The Board of Directors has advised to pay the -- distribute the dividend for the whole year of 2024, 0.66 Hong Kong Dollar including tax, up 12% year-on-year. Looking ahead to the future, we will work with greater confidence and speed up our development as the world-class energy company. In the meantime, create more value to the shareholders. Last but not least, we sincere wish you continue to support CNOOC and together we join hand in hand and create a better future. Thank you.

董事会已审查了中海油的市场价值管理措施。在 2024 年，公司盈利能力保持在相当高的水平。归属于母公司的利润为 1379 亿人民币，我们积极分享发展成果。董事会建议支付 2024 年全年的股息，为每股 0.66 港元（含税），同比增长 12%。展望未来，我们将以更大的信心加快发展，成为世界级能源公司。同时，为股东创造更多价值。最后，我们真诚希望您继续支持中海油，让我们携手共创美好未来。谢谢。

Operator  操作员

Thank you very much. Thanks Mr. Wang. Now I pass the floor to Ms. Wang from the financial department to review the financial performance.

非常感谢。谢谢王先生。现在我将把时间交给财务部门的王女士来回顾财务表现。

Wang Yufan.  王宇凡。

Distinguished analysts, media friends, shareholders, good afternoon. Welcome to CNOOC 2024 result announcement. Now I'd like to review our performance in 2024 in terms of operation and financial operation. Before that, please have a look of the disclaimer.

尊敬的分析师、媒体朋友、股东们，下午好。欢迎参加中国海洋石油总公司 2024 年业绩发布会。现在我想回顾一下我们在 2024 年的运营和财务表现。在此之前，请先看一下免责声明。

Now I'd like to cover three areas, first, I am going to cover the performance overview; then I will move to the highlights of our operation; I will end up with the outlook for the future. In the past year, under the joint efforts of the Board of Director Management and every staff we made the very prominent good performance, the net performance was 7.2 mboe, the reserve longevity is over 10 years and the replacement ratio 176%, and the price has been maintained quite well per barrel 28.5 US dollar, profit attributed to the parent company was up 11.4% up to 137.9 billion, cash flow from operating was 220.9 billion. To share benefits, the Board of Directors had advised to pay the annual dividend 1.4 RMB -- 1.4 Hong Kong Dollar, up by 12%. For the continuous years, we committed for the continuous growth and the cost management. Compared with 2013, the net profit has been up 77% and the barrel -- oil barrel cost has been reduced 37%, so we consolidated the competitive edge of the cost.

现在我想涵盖三个方面，首先，我将介绍业绩概况；然后我将转向我们运营的亮点；最后我将结束对未来的展望。在过去的一年里，在董事会管理层和每位员工的共同努力下，我们取得了非常显著的良好业绩，净业绩为 7.2 百万桶油当量，储量寿命超过 10 年，替代比率为 176%，每桶价格保持在 28.5 美元，归属于母公司的利润增长了 11.4%，达到了 1379 亿，经营现金流为 2209 亿。为了分享收益，董事会建议支付年度股息 1.4 人民币 -- 1.4 港元，增长了 12%。连续多年，我们致力于持续增长和成本管理。与 2013 年相比，净利润增长了 77%，而每桶石油成本降低了 37%，因此我们巩固了成本的竞争优势。

Our company has the very strong performance to offset the uncertainty of the oil price. Then we have the resilience in the fluctuations and continue to deliver values to the shareholders. The profit attributed to the parent company remains at the very high level, 137.9 billion RMB. Brent price has been reduced a good amount and other peer companies reduced their profit but we maintain the high quality management and sustainable growth. Then the cost has been maintained and the profit has been up 11%, and we are leading the industry in this regard.

我们公司表现非常强劲，以抵消油价的不确定性。我们在波动中展现出韧性，继续为股东创造价值。归属于母公司的利润保持在非常高的水平，达到 1379 亿元人民币。布伦特油价大幅下跌，其他同行公司的利润也有所减少，但我们保持了高质量的管理和可持续的增长。成本保持稳定，利润增长了 11%，在这方面我们引领行业。

Now I'd like to pass -- cover the operation highlights. First, on the exploration, on the offshore, we have 11 new discoveries and successfully assessed 30 structures with oil and gas. On the online, we have assessed Shenfu construct, which is amounted to over 10 million cubic meters. Because of the technology and the theoretical innovations, the exploration has generated very good result in Bohai, Shenzhen Fuhua area. Under the new guiding principles, we got Longkou 7-1 area and assessed Bozhong area as well. Thanks to the new innovation of the theory we discovered Qinhuangdao 29-6 and we are rolling out the cylinder in exploration. As the result, the reservation can be transferred to -- can be converted to production quite quickly in Southern China Ocean and we have the new theory of exploration and we found the first of this kind in the whole world and figured out the Lingshui 36-1 and that is the shallow water oil field. Thanks to the basin exploration theory development, we found out the 100,000 size of the oil field. We continue to develop the rolling exploration.

现在我想介绍一下运营亮点。首先，在勘探方面，在海上，我们有 11 个新发现，并成功评估了 30 个油气结构。在在线方面，我们评估了神府构造，储量超过 1000 万立方米。由于技术和理论创新，勘探在渤海、深圳福华地区取得了非常好的结果。在新的指导原则下，我们获得了龙口 7-1 区，并评估了博中地区。得益于理论的新创新，我们发现了秦皇岛 29-6，并在勘探中推出了气缸。因此，储量可以迅速转化为生产，特别是在南海，我们有新的勘探理论，并在全球范围内首次发现了这一类型，找到了灵水 36-1，这是一个浅水油田。得益于盆地勘探理论的发展，我们发现了 10 万规模的油田。我们将继续开展滚动勘探。

At the overseas markets, at the two sides of the Atlantic Ocean and the countries in the Belt and Road and Guyana in the Stabroek, it has been founded -- the Bluefin has been funded there, the BOE would be over 11 billion but expectation in within this area, there will be eight phases of the production going on. The production capacity will be over 1.7 barrels a day. In the meantime, in Mozambique, Brazil and Iraq, we got in total 10 new areas of the contract. The offshore exploration has been expanded further. In 2024, the proved reserve has been meeting a record high and the replacement rate has been over 167% and the longevity has been maintaining at 10 years, so we consolidated the foundation. Our company, in both home and abroad, the net profit -- net production amount has been growing 5.6%, thanks to the contribution from Bozhong 19-6 oil field. At the offshore, the growth has been 10.8%, thanks mainly to Payara project, which is in operation in Guyana on the operation and we have documented this, described the oil field quite accurately and fueling the water efficiently enhancing the efficiency and productivity. Therefore, for the existing oil fields the production can be very stable, even up. In 2024, the production ratio has been up 1.2 percentage ratio and the natural decay rate has been down to 9.2%.

在海外市场，跨大西洋两岸以及“一带一路”国家和斯塔布罗克的圭亚那，已经成立了——蓝鳍金枪鱼在这里获得了资金，预计 BOE 将超过 110 亿，但在这一领域的预期是将进行八个阶段的生产。生产能力将超过每天 1.7 万桶。与此同时，在莫桑比克、巴西和伊拉克，我们总共获得了 10 个新合同区域。海上勘探进一步扩大。到 2024 年，已探明的储量达到了历史最高水平，替代率超过 167%，寿命保持在 10 年，因此我们巩固了基础。我们的公司在国内外的净利润——净生产量增长了 5.6%，这得益于博中 19-6 油田的贡献。在海上，增长为 10.8%，主要得益于正在圭亚那运营的佩亚拉项目，我们对此进行了记录，准确描述了油田，并高效地为水源提供动力，提高了效率和生产力。 因此，对于现有油田，产量可以非常稳定，甚至有所上升。在 2024 年，产量比率上升了 1.2 个百分点，自然衰减率下降至 9.2%。

Let's look at the new project in 2024, Suizhong 36-1/Luda 5-2 oil field adjustment project had been done in the last year, which is the remarkable achievement. At the peak time, the production amount was 30,000 barrels -- 30,000 BOE. The digital and intelligent measures are both adapted to do that. At the peak time of Bozhong and the peak production was 18,000 BOE. At Shenhai, the peak performance was 27,000 BOE. In the meantime that helped the peak performance to 4.5 cubic meters, Liuhua 11-1/4-1 Oilfield redevelopment project has been launched last year that gives a new vitality to the existing oil field. The peak performance was 17,000 BOE. Wushi 23-5 production was 18,000. It is the first electricity project at South China Sea. It is also the first one with comprehensive utility of energy. Mero in Brazil had launched two freezes in the last year. The peak performance was 590,000 and Long Island in Canada got the average performance of 8200 barrel with the value production idea are adopted in the operation. As the result, the cost from the Canada has been below the average of the whole company. The drill well efficiency has been improved. The daily ratio for the five year achieved the best of -- achieved the best in the last year.

让我们来看看 2024 年的新项目，绥中 36-1/陆达 5-2 油田调整项目在去年已经完成，这是一个显著的成就。在高峰时期，产量达到了 30,000 桶——30,000 BOE。数字化和智能化措施都被应用于此。在博中高峰时期，最高产量为 18,000 BOE。在深海，最高产量为 27,000 BOE。同时，这帮助将最高产量提升至 4.5 立方米，琉华 11-1/4-1 油田再开发项目去年已启动，为现有油田注入了新的活力。最高产量为 17,000 BOE。吴石 23-5 的产量为 18,000。这是南海的第一个电力项目，也是第一个综合利用能源的项目。巴西的梅罗去年启动了两个冷冻项目。最高产量为 590,000，加拿大的长岛平均产量为 8,200 桶，运营中采用了价值生产理念。因此，加拿大的成本已低于整个公司的平均水平。钻井效率得到了提升。 五年的日比率达到了最佳水平——在去年达到了最佳水平。

For the first time, we founded the first -- we founded the -- we founded this stable achievements. In the existing construction, we have over 60 projects are ongoing and in the South China Sea we made the first though Deepwater Jacket + Cylindrical FPSO operation model, which is the good model for the following kinds of this oil field development and we set an example and we further enhanced the standardization of engineering. The standardization efficiency has been improved 27% and the large quantity procurement also reduced the cost and we reduced the efficiency and the waste and the time received are almost -- were almost two months. Security has been put at the first and the environmental protection human and equipment are all the major concerns and priority in our operation. And through the high quality standard facility, we enhanced and ensured the high quality development.

我们首次建立了第一个——我们建立了——我们建立了这个稳定的成就。在现有的建设中，我们有超过 60 个项目正在进行中，在南海我们首次实现了深水夹套+圆柱形 FPSO 的操作模式，这为后续的油田开发树立了良好的榜样，并进一步提升了工程的标准化。标准化效率提高了 27%，大宗采购也降低了成本，我们减少了效率和浪费，收到的时间几乎——几乎减少了两个月。安全被放在首位，环境保护、人和设备都是我们运营中的主要关注点和优先事项。通过高质量的标准设施，我们提升并确保了高质量的发展。

In the meantime, we went through some super toy forms in this extreme weather and the operation during that extreme weather and after was quite smooth. The company committed to the technology innovation. In 2024, shallow-water production system had been applied. For the first time, the heat refueling Recai-1 had been put in the operation. The first Cylindrical FPSO Haikui-1 and the first water jacket platform were both put in operation for the first time in Asia. We diversified the exploration methods. Then we got two innovations that was awarded by the National Progression Awards for the Grid 1 and Grid 2. We are speeding up the transformation for digital development. We set it up the Shenhai-1 and Qinhuangdao 32-6. Those are the two landmarks in the meantime, Dongfang and Baiyun smart intelligence are launched relying on the digital technology is combined -- while it's combined well with the traditional industry.

与此同时，我们在这种极端天气下经历了一些超级玩具形式，极端天气期间及之后的操作相当顺利。公司致力于技术创新。在 2024 年，浅水生产系统已被应用。首次投入运营的热加注 Recai-1。首个圆柱形 FPSO Haikui-1 和首个水套平台在亚洲首次投入运营。我们多样化了勘探方法。然后我们获得了国家进步奖的两项创新，分别是 Grid 1 和 Grid 2。我们正在加速数字发展的转型。我们设立了深海-1 和秦皇岛 32-6。这是与此同时的两个里程碑，东方和白云智能依托数字技术的结合而推出——同时与传统产业良好结合。

In addition to our major business, we were proactively in green production in developing. We have replaced 760 million kilowatts electricity with the green one and the Guanlan has been operating quite smoothly. The power generated can be amounted to 26 million kilowatt. Key green development projects was progressing quite well. The first 5 kilo gigawatt offshore power generation facility were set up Suizhong Jinzhou were set it off as well. That marks the largest power was there and flue ton was very stable and we set it Bohai and Hainan. The two CCUS base, Enping 15-1 and Ledong 15-1 CCS are both exemplary projects and in total they refill the carbon dioxide over 110,000. The first China’s self-made CCS project was put in operation. As the responsible company, we attached great importance on ESG and we are committed for the best governance solution and minimize the impacts of the environment and maximize the contribution to the society. In 2024, we strengthened the policy making and operating optimizing the structure and enhancing the capacity and put great importance on the management capacity improvement, so we keep the compliance and stable management.

除了我们的主要业务，我们在绿色生产方面积极发展。我们已经用绿色电力替代了 7.6 亿千瓦的电力，观澜的运行也相当顺利。发电量可达到 2600 万千瓦。关键的绿色发展项目进展良好。首个 5 千兆瓦的海上发电设施在绥中和锦州设立并投入使用。这标志着最大的电力在这里，烟气排放也非常稳定，我们在渤海和海南设立了两个 CCUS 基地，恩平 15-1 和乐东 15-1 CCS 都是示范项目，总共回收了超过 11 万吨二氧化碳。中国首个自主研发的 CCS 项目已投入运营。作为负责任的公司，我们非常重视 ESG，致力于最佳治理方案，尽量减少对环境的影响，最大化对社会的贡献。在 2024 年，我们加强了政策制定和运营优化结构，提升能力，并非常重视管理能力的提升，以保持合规和稳定的管理。

Now let's have a look on the financial results. In 2024, our realized prices were quite in line with the market. The sales revenue and the profit attribute to the parent company were rather high. Our profit attributed to the parent company was 137.9 billion RMB, mainly because of the increment [Phonetic] of reserve and production and we keep the strong capacity of creating more values. We maintained the high efficiency development. Therefore, the cash flow has been up to 220 billion. The free cash flow has been 97.5 billion RMB. By the end of last year, the financial performance was quite healthy. The equity was added 55 billion. The total asset was over 1 trillion. Speaking about the CapEx, the company spent the CapEx on exploration and other areas in total over 100 billion that supported the boosting of the productivity and the kickoff of the new projects. So we have get the results of the cost reduction and the cost per barrel has been down 5.3%, as the interest of the interest rate changes. The barrel DDA has been up 2%, which is mainly because of the structure changes.

现在让我们来看看财务结果。在 2024 年，我们的实现价格与市场相当一致。销售收入和归属于母公司的利润相当高。我们归属于母公司的利润为 1379 亿元人民币，主要是由于储备和产量的增加，我们保持了强大的创造更多价值的能力。我们维持了高效的发展。因此，现金流达到了 2200 亿元。自由现金流为 975 亿元人民币。到去年年底，财务表现相当健康。股本增加了 550 亿元。总资产超过 1 万亿元。谈到资本支出，公司在勘探和其他领域的资本支出总计超过 1000 亿元，支持了生产力的提升和新项目的启动。因此，我们取得了成本降低的成果，每桶成本下降了 5.3%，这是由于利率变化的影响。每桶 DDA 上升了 2%，这主要是由于结构变化。

Our company has attached great importance to return to the shareholder and actively sharing the development results to the shareholders. The Board of Directors advised to pay the distribution dividend 1.4 and the whole year the dividend payout ratio had been 44.7. Overall speaking, the dividend per share had been up 12%, it is 2.47 times over that of 2013. We buy back 3,681 shares. So I'd like to revisit some targets that has been disclosed earlier this year. We will commit to the improvement of productivity, green transformation and the technology innovation. In the meantime, we need to enhance the quality and proficiency and we will increase the value capacity, generation capacity and generate more value to the shareholders. In the next couple of the years, the production will keep the growth rate and we will be confident to achieve the targets for the three year.

我们公司非常重视回报股东，并积极与股东分享发展成果。董事会建议支付 1.4 的分红，全年分红支付比例为 44.7。总体而言，每股分红增长了 12%，是 2013 年的 2.47 倍。我们回购了 3,681 股。因此，我想重申一些今年早些时候披露的目标。我们将致力于提高生产力、绿色转型和技术创新。同时，我们需要提升质量和效率，并将增加价值能力、发电能力，为股东创造更多价值。在接下来的几年中，生产将保持增长率，我们有信心实现三年的目标。

Last but not at least I want to emphasize the gains, the dividend policy for 2027-2020 up to 2027. Under the approval of the Board of Directors, the payout ratio will be no lower than 45%. According to the changes of the market condition and upholding the principle of returning to the shareholders, considering the willingness of the shareholders and strategic decisions, we might adjust those dividend policies when it's appropriate. That is my presentation. Thank you very much.

最后但同样重要的是，我想强调收益，2027-2020 年的股息政策直到 2027 年。在董事会的批准下，派息比率将不低于 45%。根据市场情况的变化，并坚持回报股东的原则，考虑到股东的意愿和战略决策，我们可能会在适当的时候调整这些股息政策。这就是我的报告。非常感谢。

Question-and-Answer Session

问答环节

Operator  操作员

Thanks very much, Ms. Wang. Ladies and gentlemen, now let's have the Q&A session. [Operator Instructions].

非常感谢，王女士。各位女士们、先生们，现在我们进入问答环节。[操作员说明]。

Yifan Guo  郭怡凡

[Foreign Language] Thanks very much for the opportunity of raising up questions from UBS, Guo Yifan. I'd like to raise up two questions. First, about the sustainable growth of production volume. As we all know, the production volume has been growing tremendously in the last couple of years. As the result, we are standing in a rather high base at this moment. Is that kind of the difficulty for the company to maintain this growth momentum? And what will be your growth targets in the next term and how are you going to improve the efficiency and productivity in the meantime?

[外语] 非常感谢 UBS 提供提问的机会，郭怡凡。我想提出两个问题。首先，关于生产量的可持续增长。众所周知，过去几年生产量增长非常迅猛。因此，我们目前处于一个相对较高的基数。这对公司维持这种增长势头是否构成困难？你们在下一个阶段的增长目标是什么？同时你们将如何提高效率和生产力？

My second question is about the deep ocean technology or deep water technology, which are included in the national strategies at this moment. What kind of the opportunity the company could seize from this kind of the new development and what can we expect in terms of the new technology from the company?

我的第二个问题是关于深海技术或深水技术，这些技术目前已纳入国家战略。公司能够从这种新发展中抓住什么机会？我们可以期待公司在新技术方面有什么进展？

Unidentified Speaker  未知发言人

[Foreign Language] Thanks very much for your two questions. I think the earlier this year we have launched the developmental plan for the company. In the next coming three years, in 2025, the target would be 760 to 780 and we also set the clear targets in the following two years, 2026 [Phonetic] and 2027 [Phonetic]. For doing that, we have upholding the responsible and being accountable attitudes to our shareholders. That basically means we will continue to improve our productivity. In the meantime, probably the growth of -- the growth rate will be declined a bit, but we will continue the trend of growing because of our capacity, our confidence and our foundation, we are capable to do so. For the 15th five years plan, of course, we all know it is at the planning stage. It is still quite early and primitive and therefore we will definitely follow the guidelines of the nation and the trend of the industry as well as to serve this country's development through the business operation. But we can't disclose much for the 15th five years plan because it is still at the planning stage. I believe we will for sure deliver -- but you all know the three years development plan for the company, which is the clear idea on our way forward. Speaking about the reduction of the cost and improvement of the efficiency, of course that is our long standing competitive edge of CNOOC and we will be consolidating that and solidifying that as time goes on because you know the edge of the cost has been one of the very strong points of the company such as we have various ways to do that. We have two improvements. One induction, we have the new measures to deal with the drilling wells and the precise management of all of those platforms. As I also want to mention our standard for the safety which has always been the foundation for our high quality development. You know it is one of the things that we are so proud of but we never dropped on our conscious on this regard because it can be a very problematic area. And we joining the new development, the emerging technology and the regional development, all of the things are for the purpose to reduce the cost further and improve the efficiency.

非常感谢您的两个问题。我认为今年早些时候我们已经启动了公司的发展计划。在接下来的三年中，到 2025 年，目标将是 760 到 780，我们还设定了接下来两年的明确目标，2026 年和 2027 年。为此，我们将坚持对我们的股东负责和问责的态度。这基本上意味着我们将继续提高我们的生产力。与此同时，增长率可能会略微下降，但由于我们的能力、信心和基础，我们将继续保持增长的趋势。至于第十五个五年计划，当然，我们都知道它还处于规划阶段。现在仍然相当早且初步，因此我们一定会遵循国家的指导方针和行业趋势，并通过业务运营服务于国家的发展。但由于第十五个五年计划仍处于规划阶段，我们无法透露太多信息。 我相信我们一定会交付——但你们都知道公司的三年发展计划，这是我们前进的明确方向。谈到成本降低和效率提升，当然这是中海油长期以来的竞争优势，我们会在时间推移中巩固和加强这一点，因为你们知道，成本优势一直是公司的强项之一，我们有多种方式来实现这一点。我们有两个改进。一个是引导，我们有新的措施来处理钻井和对所有平台的精确管理。我还想提到我们的安全标准，这一直是我们高质量发展的基础。你知道，这是我们非常自豪的事情，但在这方面我们从未放松警惕，因为这可能是一个非常棘手的领域。我们加入新的发展、前沿技术和区域发展，所有这些都是为了进一步降低成本和提高效率。

Now I move to the second question about the new technology. As we know CNOOC has always been the pillar or the pioneer in developing the deep ocean or deep water technology and the innovation has been generated by us one after another. One worth mentioning is the earthquake data collection or seismic data collection measures or the technology we just developed which could enable us to collect the data from the deep water or the seabed. Also the drilling technology has been enabled us to drill at the quite deep water and even at the very deep slope of the seabed. Speaking about the engineering project, we have done a couple of that in the past couple of the years like the water jacket platform we set it up and the cylindrical FPSO [Phonetic], we set it up in the South China Sea in gas field. All of those are demonstrating our strong capacity and that project I just mentioned has been awarded by the Central People's Government because of the progress of course. And I think we will continue to do this kind of the effort and bring more new deep water, deep ocean technology into the practice. And I think by our progress, we have already expanded our exploration to the deep water like 1500 meters deep and we will carry on to do so because that specific technology we were awarded by the Technology Innovation Progress Award by the People's Government.

现在我来谈谈第二个问题，关于新技术。众所周知，中海油一直是开发深海或深水技术的支柱或先锋，我们不断产生创新。其中值得一提的是地震数据收集或地震数据收集措施，或者我们刚刚开发的技术，这使我们能够从深水或海底收集数据。此外，钻探技术使我们能够在相当深的水域甚至在海底的非常陡坡上进行钻探。谈到工程项目，过去几年我们完成了几个项目，比如我们在南海的气田建立的水套平台和圆柱形 FPSO [音译]。所有这些都展示了我们的强大能力，我刚提到的项目因其进展而获得了中央人民政府的奖励。我认为我们将继续努力，将更多新的深水、深海技术应用于实践。 我认为通过我们的进展，我们已经将勘探扩展到深水区，深度达到 1500 米，我们将继续这样做，因为我们获得了人民政府颁发的技术创新进步奖。

Speaking about the future and also the future of the new energy development, we are sparing no efforts in progressing this. We have set it up the floating offshore wind farm, which were put in the operation last year and that farm went through the very extreme typhoon that was the most destructive we ever went through in CNOOC and that project demonstrated a strong resilience to the destructive extreme weather. For the whole year, that wind farm generated the power 260,000 kilowatts and we will continue this trend and generate more new technology for the country and to put forward the development of the technology. That's all of my answer.

谈到未来以及新能源发展的未来，我们在这方面不遗余力地推进。我们已经建立了浮动式海上风电场，该风电场于去年投入运营，并经历了我们在中海油所经历过的最具破坏性的极端台风，该项目展示了对极端恶劣天气的强大韧性。在整个年度，该风电场发电量为 260,000 千瓦，我们将继续这一趋势，为国家创造更多新技术，并推动技术的发展。这就是我的全部回答。

Unidentified Analyst  未识别的分析师

[Foreign Language] Thank you. From Bloomberg, I'd like to have an idea of the operating profit of the natural gas under the big background of the Sino-US tension and the ongoing sanctions. What will be your adjusted strategy to deal with the latest development?

[外语] 谢谢。从彭博社，我想了解在中美紧张局势和持续制裁的大背景下，天然气的营业利润情况。你们将如何调整策略以应对最新的发展？

Unidentified Speaker  未识别的发言人

[Foreign Language] Thanks for your first question about natural gas. I think it is the crucial part in the new energy transition. Our company has always been attached a great importance in the exploration, production and the productivity development of the natural gas. I think now we have the liquidifying technology then we have LNG. Without it, the natural gas can be transported with very limited means by pipelines or can be only transported in the surrounding area. Our natural gas in the Mainland are mainly consumed in Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Bohai Bay. Those areas are normally generated the rather high values so we can maintain the good profit making margin from those areas. Of course the LNG or the liquidifying technology allows the natural gas can be transported further but in the company’s strategy we lock down the production and the price and the value of the natural gas through the long-term contracts. The long-term contracts is the crucial part of our market strategy that gives the stable momentum or stabilize our sales and also give the very strong foundation for us to create further values in selling or in making these natural gas businesses. Of course we will rely on the technology innovations, inventions in the future and enhance the productivity and efficiency of natural gas.

感谢您关于天然气的第一个问题。我认为这是新能源转型中的关键部分。我们公司一直非常重视天然气的勘探、生产和生产力发展。我认为现在我们有了液化技术，因此我们有了 LNG。没有它，天然气只能通过管道以非常有限的方式运输，或者只能在周边地区运输。我们在大陆的天然气主要消耗在广东、江苏、浙江和渤海湾。这些地区通常产生相对较高的价值，因此我们可以保持良好的利润率。当然，LNG 或液化技术使天然气可以运输得更远，但在公司的战略中，我们通过长期合同锁定天然气的生产、价格和价值。长期合同是我们市场战略的关键部分，它为我们的销售提供了稳定的动力或稳定性，并为我们在销售或开展天然气业务中创造进一步的价值奠定了非常强大的基础。 当然，我们将依靠未来的技术创新和发明，提高天然气的生产力和效率。

Speaking about your second question about trading, of course geopolitical issues is full of tensions and that generated lots of uncertainties in the recent years. This challenge should be faced by every company and our company has always been attaching the great importance on the risking factors and the compliance issues. Our compliance also definitely includes the trading aspects and we already added the compliance regulation order factors related to compliance to our trading partners. What I can offer is that we close a keep an eye or attention -- we pay a close attention to the external environment and the changes of the external trading situation. In the meantime, we enhance our capacity internally on managing the risky factor well and maintain the high compliance standard. By doing so, we can make our business compel with relevant rules and laws and then offer a stable foundation for further development.

谈到您第二个关于交易的问题，当然地缘政治问题充满了紧张局势，这在近年来产生了许多不确定性。每家公司都应该面对这个挑战，我们公司一直非常重视风险因素和合规问题。我们的合规也绝对包括交易方面，我们已经将与合规相关的合规监管订单因素添加到我们的交易伙伴中。我能提供的是，我们密切关注外部环境和外部交易情况的变化。同时，我们在内部增强管理风险因素的能力，并保持高标准的合规性。通过这样做，我们可以使我们的业务符合相关的规则和法律，从而为进一步发展提供稳定的基础。

Operator  操作员

Thank you. [Foreign Language].

谢谢。[外语]

Neil Beveridge  尼尔·贝弗里奇

Thank you. Neil Beveridge, Bernstein. First of all, congratulations on what I thought was an excellent result for 2024. I've got two questions. First of all, free cash flow generation continues to be very strong. You're holding a lot of cash. Under what circumstances would you consider raising the minimum dividend payout above 45%? And secondly, can you give any guidance on what level of share buybacks we should expect for 2025? Do you think it would be more or less than what we saw in 2024?

谢谢。尼尔·贝弗里奇，伯恩斯坦。首先，祝贺你们取得了我认为是 2024 年的优秀业绩。我有两个问题。首先，自由现金流的生成持续强劲。你们持有大量现金。在什么情况下你们会考虑将最低股息支付比例提高到 45%以上？其次，你能否提供关于 2025 年我们应该期待的股票回购水平的任何指导？你认为这会比 2024 年看到的更多还是更少？

The second question is around an asset which is becoming increasingly important for the company and that's Guyana. There is an arbitration dispute going on with CNOOC, Exxon, Chevron. Now I know you can't comment on that arbitration dispute, but can you give any guidance as when you think we will get a decision on the arbitration result? And secondly, if preemption rights are successful, would you exercise those preemption rights if you won the case? Thank you.

第二个问题是关于一个对公司越来越重要的资产，那就是圭亚那。现在与中海油、埃克森美孚和雪佛龙之间存在一场仲裁争议。我知道你不能对这场仲裁争议发表评论，但你能否提供关于你认为我们何时会得到仲裁结果的任何指导？其次，如果优先购买权成功，你会在赢得案件后行使这些优先购买权吗？谢谢。

Unidentified Speaker  未识别的发言者

[Foreign Language] Thanks very much for your question. I'd like to answer your first question about the dividend and I think the company has always been committed in distributing the dividend and returning to the investors. As I mentioned earlier that the dividend for the whole year, last year 2024, was 1.4 Hong Kong dollars including tax and the payout ratio was 44.7%. And I think our decision on the dividend are mainly based on the profitability, the gearing ratio, CapEx as well as the performance of our peer companies internationally, and we will make the decision to ensure that we are leading our industry. And in the meantime, we will watch over the changing situation of the market and maintain the principle of returning to the investors and also make our strategic planning appropriate and keep the sufficient resourcing for that and also we will consider our operating situation then make the decision on the dividend payout ratio.

非常感谢您的提问。我想回答您关于股息的第一个问题，我认为公司一直致力于分配股息并回报投资者。正如我之前提到的，去年 2024 年的全年股息为 1.4 港元（含税），派息比率为 44.7%。我认为我们对股息的决定主要基于盈利能力、杠杆比率、资本支出以及我们国际同行公司的表现，我们将做出决策以确保我们在行业中处于领先地位。同时，我们将关注市场变化情况，保持回报投资者的原则，并使我们的战略规划适当，保持足够的资源，并考虑我们的运营情况，然后决定股息派发比率。

Unidentified Speaker  未识别的发言者

Second question is a sensitive question and a good question as well. First I would like to express my many thanks for your pay more attention to CNOOC business and development. I want our Chief Lawyer to answer your this question.

第二个问题是一个敏感的问题，也是一个好问题。首先，我要非常感谢您对中海油业务和发展的关注。我希望我们的首席律师来回答您的这个问题。

Unidentified Speaker  未知发言人

[Foreign Language] Thanks very much for your attention to this key issue on the ongoing arbitration case. Yes, as you know it is the concern of the capital markets, the law of the international legal service industry as well. I think, as you know this arbitration is undergoing according to the SEC procedures and in July 2024 the three arbitrators were appointed and the tribunal had been set it up and the pre-meeting before the tribunal were also held and the relevant evidences, the documents were produced as well. By the timeline, in May this year, the first tribunal will be called and further result of the arbitration, of course, we are quite confident for this case. After winning this case, if possible, whether we should exercise our rights is quite depending on the benefits of the company and the shareholders, and we will keep the market updated and disclose the relevant information when it comes to appropriate time. And so yes, of course it is depending on the results of the arbitration first.

非常感谢您关注这个关于正在进行的仲裁案件的关键问题。是的，正如您所知，这关系到资本市场以及国际法律服务行业的法律。我认为，正如您所知，这个仲裁正在根据 SEC 程序进行，2024 年 7 月三名仲裁员被任命，仲裁庭也已成立，并且在仲裁庭之前的预备会议也已举行，相关证据和文件也已提交。根据时间表，今年 5 月，第一次仲裁庭将被召集，仲裁的进一步结果，我们对此案非常有信心。在赢得此案后，是否行使我们的权利将取决于公司的利益和股东的利益，我们将保持市场更新，并在适当的时候披露相关信息。因此，是的，当然这首先取决于仲裁的结果。

Unidentified Analyst  未知分析师

[Foreign Language] From Morgan Stanley, Liu Hong Liang [Phonetic]. I got two questions. First is about the asset depreciation Last year I found the coverage for the asset depreciation were 8 billion. It was quite high compared with the year before. Therefore, I want to ask the question what is the rationale, the principles and the idea of the progress timeline for the asset depreciation? Is not true that when the performance is going good, it's going to be good, more coverage will be issued and when it's not that good and less depreciation, is that true for that? My second question is about natural gas, specifically on the last quarter of 2024, the fourth quarter, year-on-year comparison, I found the price was not -- was a bit weak. What is the reason behind? Is that related to Siberian capacity improvement?

来自摩根士丹利的刘洪亮。我有两个问题。第一个是关于资产折旧的。去年我发现资产折旧的覆盖率为 80 亿。与前一年相比，这个数字相当高。因此，我想问一下，资产折旧的合理性、原则和进度时间表是什么？当业绩良好时，覆盖率会增加，而当业绩不佳时，折旧会减少，这是真的吗？我的第二个问题是关于天然气，特别是 2024 年第四季度的同比比较，我发现价格有点疲软。背后的原因是什么？这与西伯利亚产能的提升有关吗？

Unidentified Speaker  未知发言人

[Foreign Language] I'd like to answer your first question. First, on the depreciation, we stringently applied the accounting principles in depreciation and when the asset value is the lower than the book value and there is the gap or the differences, it is possible and necessary to do the depreciation and we will watch closely on the traces of the depreciation and whether we should issue the coverage for that depreciation and the coverage will be counted in the P&L -- profit and losses in that term. For this time, of course, we found some traces of depreciation at our offshore assets and the collectible value is definitely lower than the book value, therefore, would we do that.

[外语] 我想回答你的第一个问题。首先，关于折旧，我们严格遵循折旧的会计原则，当资产价值低于账面价值并且存在差距或差异时，进行折旧是可能且必要的，我们将密切关注折旧的迹象，以及我们是否应该为该折旧发布覆盖，覆盖将计入损益表 -- 在该期间的利润和损失。当然，这次我们发现我们的海上资产有一些折旧的迹象，且可收回价值明显低于账面价值，因此，我们会这样做。

Unidentified Speaker  未知发言人

[Foreign Language] Second question about your natural gas price, yes, of course, globally speaking, this price is fluctuating which is mainly depending on the climate situation, the oil price, the energy price and the geopolitics. Speaking specifically for the fourth quarter of last year, the price dropped to the rather low level which was attributed to mainly two reasons. First, the crude oil price was going down for the whole of last year and the natural gas has the coefficiency relation with the price -- has the coefficiency relation with the crude oil price. Secondly, we all know that last year we had the warmer winter for the whole north hemisphere of the world. Therefore, the consumption amount dropped down a bit, which includes both China and many other countries in the north hemisphere of the world. And that means the supply and the demand relation changed a bit that caused to the changes of the price. As you know, our natural gas were all consumed domestically in Mainland China, therefore we don't have really direct relation with the global price. But of course we'll be influenced by the global natural gas changes, but I have to say our price of the natural gas in Chinese market last year were much more balanced than the global one and that is the very stable foundation for our price.

第二个问题是关于你们的天然气价格，是的，当然，从全球来看，这个价格是波动的，主要取决于气候情况、油价、能源价格和地缘政治。具体来说，去年第四季度，价格降到了相对较低的水平，这主要归因于两个原因。首先，去年整个年度原油价格一直在下跌，而天然气与原油价格之间存在相关性。其次，我们都知道去年北半球的冬天相对温暖。因此，消费量略有下降，这包括中国和北半球的许多其他国家。这意味着供需关系发生了一些变化，从而导致价格的变化。正如你所知道的，我们的天然气全部在中国大陆消费，因此我们与全球价格并没有真正的直接关系。 当然，我们会受到全球天然气变化的影响，但我必须说，去年中国市场的天然气价格比全球价格更加平衡，这为我们的价格提供了非常稳定的基础。

Unidentified Analyst  未知分析师

[Foreign Language] Security Daily, Xiang Hong Tao [Phonetic]. I got two questions and thanks for the opportunity of raising up the question. First, the company has always promoting the improvement of reserve and productivity. What is your take on that and what is the way we will follow -- the company will follow in the future? The second, what is your idea on the short-term, mid-term, and long term crude oil price?

《安全日报》，向洪涛。我有两个问题，感谢您提供提问的机会。首先，公司一直在推动储备和生产力的提升。您对此有何看法，公司未来将采取什么方式？第二，您对短期、中期和长期的原油价格有什么看法？

Unidentified Speaker  未识别的发言者

[Foreign Language] Thanks very much. Speaking about the double improvement of both reserve and production, I think there are two layers on this question; offshore and onshore. Speaking of the domestic market or the onshore market, China's crude oil dependency ratio, I mean the demand is over 70%. We have to safeguard the energy security of the country. As an energy company, it is part of our social responsibility. In the meantime, it is also the demand for us to develop further. We have been developing in the oil exploration and production for over 40 years. We have been standing on a very strong foundation to improve both the reserve and the production in the near and in the mid-term, we are confident to do so. As I mentioned that we have released the three year plan for the next coming years and we are confident to be able to deliver those targets. In the meantime, we will improve the volume and the percentage of the natural gas as well. By doing this, for one side, we meet the demand of our self development. On the other side, we carried on the social responsibility, then we can have the stable development as well as giving a larger portion of the development for the natural gas.

非常感谢。谈到储量和产量的双重提升，我认为这个问题有两个层面；海上和陆上。谈到国内市场或陆上市场，中国的原油依赖比率，我的意思是需求超过 70%。我们必须保障国家的能源安全。作为一家能源公司，这是我们的一部分社会责任。同时，这也是我们进一步发展的需求。我们在石油勘探和生产方面已经发展了超过 40 年。我们在一个非常坚实的基础上，信心十足地在近期和中期提升储量和产量。正如我提到的，我们已经发布了未来几年的三年计划，我们有信心能够实现这些目标。同时，我们也会提高天然气的产量和比例。通过这样做，一方面，我们满足了自我发展的需求。 另一方面，我们履行社会责任，这样我们就可以实现稳定发展，并为天然气的发展提供更大份额。

Speaking about the offshore, we will be focusing on all the overseas market. We will be focusing on the value creation. We have the two plus one strategic area where we will do the optimization of the existing projects and acquire the valuable new projects. By doing so, we could maximize the value creation and deliver more values to the company.

谈到离岸，我们将专注于所有海外市场。我们将专注于价值创造。我们有两个加一个的战略领域，在这些领域我们将优化现有项目并收购有价值的新项目。通过这样做，我们可以最大化价值创造，并为公司提供更多价值。

Unidentified Speaker  未识别的发言人

[Foreign Language] Speaking about the demand, I'd like to take this question. Previously we have been always considering the demand for the crude oil can be quite strong, resilient or there is a linear relation, but it might be the case anymore. We are then experts in predicting the oil price which are mainly depending on the demand and the supply. Previously, even till now, it is rather difficult to predict the actual demand. And it was not that difficult to have an idea on how much will be supplied but now it is not that case anymore. In recent months we feel sorry to what's going on and we found the predicting for the demand has been impacted by a lot of factors such as the US trading policy, the tariff to be imposed to the vehicles and many others. But we still found the rather strong branch oil price. As I checked earlier today, it was 72 US dollar. You see, there is a lot of ongoing uncertainty, but the price of the oil showed the strong resilience or certainty here. Why? Because it is anchored by the rather strong supply and demand relation and this is kind of determined. Speaking about the future of the demand, of course there will be a lot of fluctuations. It will be volatile for sure and there are a couple of reasons. First, why it is uncertain because of the trade relations and because of the loose-loose relations economically but, in practice, how much will be lost by each party, it's not yet determined. Under this kind of the huge uncertainty, what can we do? CNOOC can only deliver a good job and improve the efficiency and control well of our cost to offset the uncertainty in this backdrop. And we will be proactive to deal with the uncertainty and well prepared for that.

关于需求，我想回答这个问题。之前我们一直认为原油的需求可能相当强劲、具有韧性，或者存在线性关系，但现在可能不再是这种情况。我们是预测油价的专家，主要依赖于需求和供应。之前，甚至到现在，预测实际需求相当困难。而了解供应量并不是那么困难，但现在情况不再如此。最近几个月，我们对发生的事情感到遗憾，我们发现需求的预测受到许多因素的影响，例如美国的贸易政策、对车辆征收的关税等等。但我们仍然发现原油价格相当强劲。今天早些时候我查看时，价格为 72 美元。你看，存在很多持续的不确定性，但油价显示出强大的韧性或确定性。为什么？因为它受到相对强劲的供需关系的支撑，这种关系是确定的。谈到未来的需求，当然会有很多波动。 这肯定会很不稳定，原因有几个。首先，由于贸易关系和经济上的双输关系，导致不确定性，但实际上，各方将损失多少尚未确定。在这种巨大的不确定性下，我们能做什么？中海油只能做好工作，提高效率，妥善控制成本，以抵消这种背景下的不确定性。我们将积极应对不确定性，并为此做好准备。

Unidentified Analyst  未识别的分析师

[Foreign Language] From Reuters, I got two questions. First, what is the update of the transaction of the sales -- for the sales of the US Mexico coal or Mexico Bay asset? And have you ever encountered any difficulties in terms of the approval from the administration of both China and the United States? And in addition, once this transaction will be completed, are you going to consider two issues that show dividends for the shareholders? In the meantime, after this transaction, are you going to consider to sell other oil and gas project at the onshore of United States?

[外语] 来自路透社，我有两个问题。首先，关于美国墨西哥煤炭或墨西哥湾资产的销售交易有什么更新？您是否在获得中国和美国两国政府的批准方面遇到过任何困难？此外，一旦这笔交易完成，您是否会考虑两个问题，即向股东分红？同时，在这笔交易之后，您是否会考虑出售美国境内的其他油气项目？

Second question is related to what has been happening this morning. As I noticed that the central government advised the ISOEs to stop their ongoing business with Li Ka-shing and you have the cooperation with Husky. Will this kind of the cooperation will be impacted by the latest development from the central government? And what is the scope of your cooperation with Husky?

第二个问题与今天早上发生的事情有关。我注意到中央政府建议国有企业停止与李嘉诚的持续业务，而你们与赫斯基的合作会受到中央政府最新发展的影响吗？你们与赫斯基的合作范围是什么？

Unidentified Speaker  未识别的发言人

[Foreign Language] Speaking about the selling of the asset at the Gulf of Mexico United States, I'm happy you get this question, you raise up this question. I think the progress is quite in the timeline of our original thinking and when the transaction closes, we will for sure disclose to the market at the appropriate time but you know it involves with a rather complicated approval procedure, so we are not sure about the exact timing at this moment but I don't think it will be long. In the meantime, I know you have noticed on the possibility of selling other assets at the onshore of United States. I don't think it is a part of our agenda yet but I want to emphasize one thing by answering your question, we have the global thinking as a whole for the company instead of focusing on a single region, therefore we will consider the global strategy in order to produce sustainable values for our shareholders. The combination of our portfolio will also be based on this kind of global thinking, will also be based on our technology, management, governance, capacity and efficiency.

关于在美国墨西哥湾出售资产的问题，我很高兴你提出了这个问题。我认为进展与我们最初的想法时间表相符，当交易完成时，我们一定会在适当的时候向市场披露，但你知道这涉及到相当复杂的审批程序，所以我们目前不确定确切的时间，但我认为不会太久。与此同时，我知道你注意到了在美国大陆出售其他资产的可能性。我认为这还不是我们议程的一部分，但我想通过回答你的问题强调一件事，我们对公司的整体思考是全球性的，而不是专注于单一地区，因此我们将考虑全球战略，以为我们的股东创造可持续的价值。我们投资组合的组合也将基于这种全球思维，同时也将基于我们的技术、管理、治理、能力和效率。

Unidentified Speaker  未识别的发言人

[Foreign Language] Thanks very much again for your second question. You know normally at the result announcement, I won't answer much question because the key focus would be the performance of the company but this year might be a bit unusual. For the trading that you mentioned or the transaction you just mentioned, of course we are all aware of that but we refrained from giving any comments on that. And you know the Husky is a company you mentioned, the shareholder of that company of Cenovus, it's the Canada or Canada-based company. I'm not sure whether Mr. Li Ka-shing or his family holds any shares of Cenovus but what I can tell is that our cooperation with Husky so far had been normal, smooth and in good order. And I think our corporation mainly covers in the project of the South Sea including both the exploration and the production products. What I can tell is that we are free from any impacts from the transaction you just mentioned.

非常感谢您再次提出第二个问题。您知道，通常在业绩公告时，我不会回答太多问题，因为关键焦点是公司的表现，但今年可能有点不同。关于您提到的交易，当然我们都知道，但我们避免对此发表评论。您提到的 Husky 是一家您提到的公司，Cenovus 的股东是加拿大或总部位于加拿大的公司。我不确定李嘉诚先生或他的家族是否持有 Cenovus 的股份，但我可以告诉您的是，我们与 Husky 的合作到目前为止一直是正常、顺利和良好的。我认为我们的合作主要涉及南海的项目，包括勘探和生产产品。我可以告诉您的是，我们没有受到您刚才提到的交易的任何影响。

Unidentified Analyst  未识别的分析师

[Foreign Language] From Tianfeng Securities, [Indiscernible]. I have two questions. First is regarding the deep water or deep ocean technology. We all notice the discovery of the natural gas because of that would the company update or over perform the previous three year target in both CapEx and the production targets? The second question is that the Sinopec and PetroChina has all disclosed their contract -- their yearly contract. Would CNOOC also let us know the yearly contract?

来自天风证券，[无法辨识]。我有两个问题。第一个是关于深水或深海技术。我们都注意到天然气的发现，这是否意味着公司会更新或超越之前三年的资本支出和生产目标？第二个问题是中石化和中石油都已披露了他们的年度合同。中国海洋石油公司是否也会让我们知道年度合同？

Unidentified Speaker  未识别的发言人

[Foreign Language] Thanks for your question. Regarding the deep ocean technology, I think this question has been answered previously by our Chairman with the very accurate comprehensive description on what we have done. But I want to emphasize that in the South China Sea, CNOOC has attached great importance on the development of both oil and natural gas. Therefore, we will make the efforts in improving the efficiency, reducing the cost and ensuring the safety. I think the deep water exploration cannot be that easy. It is very challenging and we are facing a lot of uncertainty, which is true. Therefore we need to develop our technology and to overcome those difficulties. So far I think the performance of the deep water has been rather stable and normal. And I think you know whether we will outperform the target is or how much we will deliver the target is quite depending on the condition of stable operation and the stable ROA. If you think from this perspective, I don't think we will have big or huge ups or downs in this regard. We will rather deliver stably and deliver the target for our three year development.

谢谢你的提问。关于深海技术，我认为这个问题之前已经由我们的董事长以非常准确的全面描述进行了回答。但我想强调的是，在南海，中国海洋石油总公司非常重视石油和天然气的开发。因此，我们将努力提高效率，降低成本，确保安全。我认为深水勘探并不是那么简单。这是非常具有挑战性的，我们面临很多不确定性，这是真的。因此，我们需要发展我们的技术，克服这些困难。到目前为止，我认为深水的表现相当稳定和正常。我认为，无论我们是否会超出目标，或者我们将实现多少目标，实际上都相当依赖于稳定运营的条件和稳定的投资回报率。如果从这个角度来看，我认为在这方面我们不会有大的波动。我们将更稳定地实现我们的三年发展目标。

Now let's shift the gear to the deep water natural gas. You know, by different basin type, probably we also need to produce or develop the crude oil as well. And for this we will update the market on the relevant development or the information when it's appropriate. I encourage you to check our disclosure from time to time. Of course, by doing so, we will increase the percentage of the natural gas and the deep water technology will for sure to help us to do the increment [Phonetic] of both the reserve and the production. Eventually the target is to ensure the smooth operation, enhance the percentage of the natural gas and ensure or improve the efficiency.

现在让我们转向深水天然气。你知道，根据不同的盆地类型，我们可能还需要生产或开发原油。为此，我们将在适当的时候向市场更新相关的发展或信息。我鼓励你们不时查看我们的披露。当然，通过这样做，我们将增加天然气的比例，深水技术肯定会帮助我们增加储量和产量。最终目标是确保平稳运营，提高天然气的比例，并确保或改善效率。

The second question is regarding the contracts of the natural gas sales of the CNOOC. I want to emphasize that our business model for natural gas compared with other players in this industry in China is a bit different. We’re focused on the exploration production only and we don't involve in international trading or LNG importation. We have determined our client base at the rather early stage of our project and when we are doing the project at the early stage, basically the client are already determined and we sign the rather long-term contract with them. Therefore, the pricing model and the business model of our natural gas business is rather similar with the international ones, but we have our own features. This kind of the combination gives us a very stable foundation of our price. The year before last -- I mean last year, I'm not sure if you know the information that the total consumption amount of the natural gas in China was 420 billion and the supply domestically was over 240, that basically means there were 1000 billion tons of the gap or the deficiency and so the supply -- the demand in China is oversupplied. So, we don't have much problem on selling our natural gas and we have lots of the market potential are untapped.

第二个问题是关于中海油天然气销售合同的。我想强调的是，我们的天然气业务模式与中国行业内其他参与者有些不同。我们专注于勘探和生产，不涉及国际贸易或液化天然气进口。我们在项目的早期阶段就确定了客户基础，当我们在早期阶段进行项目时，客户基本上已经确定，并且我们与他们签订了相对长期的合同。因此，我们的天然气业务的定价模式和商业模式与国际上的相当相似，但我们有自己的特点。这种结合为我们的价格提供了非常稳定的基础。前年——我指的是去年，我不确定你是否知道这个信息，中国天然气的总消费量为 4200 亿，国内供应超过 2400 亿，这基本上意味着有 1000 亿吨的缺口或不足，因此，中国的需求是大于供应的。 所以，我们在销售天然气方面没有太大问题，并且我们有很多市场潜力尚未开发。

Unidentified Analyst  未识别的分析师

[Foreign Language] From your previous presentation we found the cost per barrel oil has been reduced but recently there were some pressure for the cost of the oil. Would that impact your future gross margin and what kind of the measure you will do to offside this kind of the impact?

[外语] 从您之前的演示中，我们发现每桶石油的成本已经降低，但最近石油成本受到了一些压力。这会影响您未来的毛利率吗？您将采取什么措施来抵消这种影响？

My second question is related to the green energy including PV, you've done lots of the investment in those regards. What is the business going on there? Would you consider spin off this business as independent business sector in the future and what is the profitability situation of that part of the business?

我第二个问题与绿色能源有关，包括光伏，你们在这方面进行了大量投资。这个业务进展如何？你们会考虑将这个业务作为独立的业务部门进行剥离吗？该部分业务的盈利情况如何？

The third question ties back to previous question by Reuters on the Cenovus and your cooperation and that is related to the Canadian trading partner. With the ongoing tension between the China and the United States, are you going to review your existing connections and trading corporations?

第三个问题与路透社之前关于 Cenovus 及其合作伙伴的提问相关，这与加拿大的贸易伙伴有关。在中美之间持续紧张的情况下，你们会审查现有的联系和贸易合作吗？

Unidentified Speaker  未识别的发言人

[Foreign Language] The oil price yes, as you know, compared with earlier of this year, it has been dropped a bit and there are rather complicated reasons behind and had been explained previously. So, that's why for prediction of the future price it is not that easy but you know we have a strong foundation that it is to use our strong commitment for the company's development to offset the lot of the uncertainties in the oil market. As you might find that in the past 10 years our company went through a lot of cycles, a lot of the fluctuations which has been demonstrated in the presentation by Ms. Wang earlier but under this kind of the situation we went through it, we improved the quality efficiency, reduced the cost and by 40%. That means even we keep the same price like 10 years ago, the profit we make had doubled. Why could we do that? Because we are committed for high quality, higher efficiency, cost as our competitive edge and keep generating values for the shareholders

油价是的，正如你所知道的，与今年早些时候相比，它略有下降，背后有相当复杂的原因，之前已经解释过了。因此，这就是为什么对未来价格的预测并不容易，但你知道我们有一个强大的基础，那就是利用我们对公司发展的强烈承诺来抵消石油市场中的许多不确定性。正如你可能发现的，在过去的 10 年里，我们公司经历了许多周期，许多波动，这在王女士之前的演示中得到了体现，但在这种情况下，我们经历了这一切，提高了质量效率，降低了成本，降低了 40%。这意味着即使我们保持与 10 年前相同的价格，我们的利润也翻了一番。我们为什么能做到这一点？因为我们致力于高质量、更高效率、成本作为我们的竞争优势，并不断为股东创造价值。

Speaking about what measures we will adapt to mitigate this kind of the impact, yes, the price in 2024, if you know, was further reduced compared with 2023 but our profit has been enhanced by 11% which is mainly because of our innovation. And speaking about the future, we will for sure focus on the high quality development. Speaking about the new energy that is the second question you raised up, we will focus on developing the optimal ore resources and will we have the competitive edge, mainly the wind powered -- onshore wind power farm or the deep water wind power and specific including the seabed CCS, CUS which means carbon dioxide capture and utility. We made the innovation in this regard and also we will do the online PV and the replacement of the existing energy or the distributed energy. There are lots of options but we will focus on the competitive edge first. That basically means the PV and wind power generation.

谈到我们将采取什么措施来减轻这种影响，是的，2024 年的价格相比 2023 年进一步降低，但我们的利润提高了 11%，这主要得益于我们的创新。谈到未来，我们肯定会专注于高质量的发展。谈到新能源，这是你提出的第二个问题，我们将专注于开发最佳矿产资源，并将拥有竞争优势，主要是风能——陆上风电场或深水风电，具体包括海底 CCS，CUS，即二氧化碳捕集和利用。在这方面我们进行了创新，同时我们还将进行在线光伏和现有能源或分布式能源的替代。有很多选择，但我们将首先专注于竞争优势。这基本上意味着光伏和风能发电。

Speaking about the future, yes, we will continue to create more values and only by doing so we can ensure that we will be able to deliver the ROA targets that we set. Whether it will be an independent business segment -- I mean the new energy will be an independent segment of our company, I think now of course not. Whether it will be possible? Yes, probably in the future, probably it will be integrated with other major business, the oil and gas, but we are not yet decided and it's not the timing.

谈到未来，是的，我们将继续创造更多的价值，只有这样我们才能确保实现我们设定的资产回报率目标。它是否会成为一个独立的业务部门——我的意思是新能源将成为我们公司的一个独立部门，我认为现在当然不是。是否有可能？是的，可能在未来，可能会与其他主要业务，如石油和天然气整合，但我们还没有决定，现在还不是时候。

And now I shift the second question, the last question on the geopolitics answered by Mr. Xu. Geopolitics has never been asked so many times than ever before and which is demonstrating the strong concern of this kind of the risk in recent years. Of course it is rather new for the recent 10 years but most of companies consider geopolitics as a challenge now and it is one elements of their consideration. Whether we will consider the geopolitics specific to one single country? I don't think so. You know, there is the country related risk and the geopolitics is just one risk associate under the country risk. Among that we still have the credit risk, the exchange risk and the legal environment risk, so we won't eliminate any trading partners simply by the geopolitics risks. In the meantime, when we are considering the trading partners, we will also consider their idea of development, their credit conditions, whether they can create the synergy effects with our company.

现在我转到第二个问题，最后一个问题由徐先生回答。地缘政治从未像现在这样被提问过这么多次，这表明近年来对这种风险的强烈关注。当然，在过去十年中，这种情况相对较新，但大多数公司现在将地缘政治视为一种挑战，并将其作为考虑因素之一。我们是否会考虑特定于某个国家的地缘政治？我认为不会。你知道，存在与国家相关的风险，而地缘政治只是国家风险下的一种风险。在这些风险中，我们仍然面临信用风险、汇率风险和法律环境风险，因此我们不会仅仅因为地缘政治风险而排除任何交易伙伴。同时，在考虑交易伙伴时，我们还会考虑他们的发展理念、信用状况，以及他们是否能够与我们的公司产生协同效应。

Get back to the specific connections with the United States and Canada, as I mentioned, as my colleague mentioned earlier that the sales of any inland or onshore asset in the States are not yet a part of our agenda and in our company internally we have a business development team, they do the assessment on the geopolitics and any other country risk annually. Among that, they will review the potential, the associated risks. All of that is to ensure the strong competitive edge for our company in the specific country. And in the portfolio assessment, it is rather dynamic. We won't simply eliminate one country by geopolitical reason alone, it is a rather comprehensive assessment. So whether we will continue to work with the partners in Canada or United States, it is still a dynamic decision based on our review. We won't simply stop working with them because they are located in certain country and all because by what timing we can't or we simply not blacklist any country, we will do a comprehensive dynamic review.

回到与美国和加拿大的具体联系，正如我提到的，我的同事之前提到过，任何内陆或岸上资产在美国的销售尚未成为我们议程的一部分，在我们公司内部，我们有一个业务发展团队，他们每年对地缘政治和其他国家风险进行评估。在此过程中，他们将审查潜力和相关风险。所有这些都是为了确保我们公司在特定国家的强大竞争优势。在投资组合评估中，这是一项相当动态的工作。我们不会仅仅因为地缘政治原因而简单地排除一个国家，这是一项相当全面的评估。因此，我们是否会继续与加拿大或美国的合作伙伴合作，仍然是基于我们的审查的动态决策。我们不会仅仅因为他们位于某个国家而停止与他们的合作，也不会因为某个时机而无法合作，我们也不会简单地将任何国家列入黑名单，我们将进行全面的动态评估。

Operator  操作员

[Foreign Language] Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's presentation. We thank you very much for attendance and support. Hope to see you very soon. [Foreign Language]

各位女士们、先生们，今天的演讲到此结束。非常感谢您的出席和支持。希望很快再见到您。