BEIJING -- China's largest offshore oil producer CNOOC plans to issue stocks on the Chinese mainland's A- share market this year, Chairman Fu Chengyu said on Monday.

Fu made the remarks on the sideline of the annual full session of the National People's Congress (NPC), which started Monday morning in Beijing.

"Our goal is to turn to the mainland market this year," said Fu, a deputy to the NPC, the country's top legislature.

The Hong Kong-listed company will not use the CDR (China Depositary Receipt) approach but invest directly in the A share stock market, Fu said.

A-share market trading is limited to local mainland investors and a handful of foreign institutions only. Many Chinese companies chose to list overseas when the mainland stock market saw a continuous bearish trend from 2000 to 2005.

Fu did not give details on the amount of the investment for listing of the country's No 3 oil producer.

CNOOC, or China National Offshore Oil Corporation, expects its production to recover from 2006 when the company missed output targets from fields off China's coast.

The Beijing-based oil giant expects to sign new exploration agreements this year on projects in the South China Sea, Fu said.

The company missed last year's target partly because of the shutdown of the Liuhua oilfield, which was damaged in a direct-hit by Typhoon Chanchu last May.

"We are not sure that we will be able to repair the field this year because of a shortage of the necessary technology," Fu said.

The company earlier lowered its annual output target for 2007 due to the suspension of operations at the Liuhua oil field in South China Sea, which turned out 22,000 barrels of oil per day before being struck by Typhoon Chanchu.

It said it aimed to produce 162 to 170 million barrels of oil equivalent in 2007. The target for last year was 168 to 170 million barrels.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks both yuan- denominated A shares and hard-currency B shares traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, doubled last year as investors piled into the market following the completion of shareholding reforms that helped to reduce worries over a potential flood of shares entering the market.

CNOOC said in a company statement earlier this year that five projects are expected to come on stream in 2007 with 20 more in the coming years and it has increased its capital expenditure on development activities by 19 percent to US$3.65 billion.

They include major projects offshore China such as Penglai 19-3 phase, Wenchang oil fields, and overseas projects including the Tangguh project and OML 130, it said in a statement.

Deepwater exploration efforts will also be increased, it said.