BEIJING, Aug 24 (Reuters) - CNOOC Ltd 0883.HK , China's offshore oil and gas specialist, swung to a loss in the first half of 2016 as revenue sank almost by a third because of lower crude oil and natural gas prices, it said on Wednesday.
The company reported a net loss of 7.74 billion yuan ($1.16 billion) in the first six months of the year, compared with a profit of 14.73 billion yuan in the same period last year, it said.
Oil and gas sales in the period plunged 28.5 percent to 55.08 billion yuan from 77.03 billion yuan even as total net production rose 0.6 percent over the year-ago period to 241.5 million barrels oil equivalent.
The state-controlled firm said its realized oil prices during the January-June period fell 34.5 percent over a year earlier and its natural gas prices also dropped 16.2 percent during the same period.
CNOOC's Hong Kong-listed share prices were up 19 percent in the first half, outperforming the broader Hang Seng Index .HSI , which dropped 5 percent during the period. ($1 = 6.6508 Chinese yuan renminbi)