China's COSL eyes 30 pct sales growth, share placement

BEIJING, May 22 (Reuters) - China Oilfield Service Ltd (COSL) (2883.HK) (601808.SS) will see revenue grow about 30 percent this year and hopes to make a share placement if Chinese regulators give approval, a senior company executive said on Friday.

Last year COSL's revenue grew by more than a third to 12.14 billion yuan ($1.78 billion), so a further 30 percent rise implies sales of 15.79 billion yuan.

"Profit will not be proportionate with income growth," executive vice-president Chen Weidong told reporters.

Chen said the oil rig group's overseas revenue could rise to 30 percent of the total this year, up from 25 percent last year, when it bought Norway's Awilco Offshore in a deal worth about $2.5 billion.

Chen said utilisation rates of the company's major equipment was very high because of the competitive advantage in its home market and its close relation with its parent company, state-run China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC).

He said the company would consider a share placement if there was an opportunity, but first it needed approval from Chinese regulators. "There are many companies waiting to be given the right to do that," Chen said.

He declined to say how much the company might seek to raise through a share placement. ($1=6.823 Yuan) (Reporting by Jim Bai and Tom Miles; Editing by Chris Lewis)