Reports first-ever half year loss at 7.74 billion yuan Total output slips more than 5% from second half of 2015 Cnooc Ltd. posted its first-ever half-year loss as crude’s plunge and writedowns on assets, including Canadian oil sands, destroyed profit at China’s biggest offshore oil and gas producer. The company swung to a 7.74 billion yuan ($1.16 billion) loss in the January to June period, compared with a net income of 14.7 billion yuan a year earlier, the Beijing-based explorer said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Wednesday. Oil and gas revenue fell 28.5 percent to 55.08 billion yuan and the company declared an interim dividend of HK$0.12 per share. During the first half of the year, Brent crude, the global benchmark, averaged roughly 30 percent lower than the same period in 2015, roiling global explorers. Prices have whipsawed this year, flipping five times between […]