China’s CNPC terminates six overseas projects, estimated loss $187.51 million

China's largest oil company by output China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has terminated six exploration projects in Libya and Niger, on account of the political turbulence going on in the Middle East and North Africa, the Securities Daily said Monday.

The six terminated projects were managed by Great Wall Drilling Co (GWDC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNPC and  the damage for the company is estimated at  1.2 billion yuan ($187.51 million), much higher than losses incurred during the 2009 financial crisis, said the report.

Great Wall Drilling Co(GWDC) is an independent contractor under China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to manage and supervise all domestic land and abroad drilling operations.

"For CNPC, the current priority should be avoiding massive losses. It should elevate its risk evaluation and management to strengthen the assessment of overseas projects," Ren Haoning, an analyst with the China Investment Consulting Corp (CICC), said in the report.

GWDC's revenue in 2010 stood at 16.8 billion yuan and the overseas markets contribution was 7.5 billion yuan.

Since its establishment three years ago, GWDC has contributed 2.08 billion yuan in profits to its parent company, CNPC, Ren said.