JP Morgan lifts CNOOC, PetroChina's target price

JP Morgan raises the target price of CNOOC (NYSE:CEO) to 10.2 Hong Kong dollars per share, and PetroChina (NYSE:PTR) to 8.3 Hong Kong dollars to reflect anticipated higher crude oil price.

Meanwhile, JP Morgan said it prefers CNOOC to PetroChina, keeping overweight call on CNOOC and underweight rating on PetroChina.

The broker respectively lifts Brent crude oil forecast to 63 Hong Kong dollars, 60 Hong Kong dollars for 2007 and 2008, and even raises long-term crude oil price forecast by 12 percent to 55 Hong Kong dollars.

Correspondingly, JP Morgan increases CNOOC's profit forecast by 9-26 percent to 28.9 billion yuan, 33.1 billion yuan and 35 billion yuan for 2007, 2008 and 2009 respectively, but lower PetroChina by 4-9 percent to 127.6 billion yuan and 131.7 billion yuan for 2007 and 2008.