Chinese oil giant CNOOC said Wednesday it has cut its 2011 oil production target by as much as 6.8 percent after an oil spill off China's northeastern coast.

CNOOC chairman Wang Yilin said he was "deeply sorry" for the leakage near platforms in Bohai Bay jointly owned by the state-controlled company and US titan ConocoPhillips, vowing to "further improve our management system".

The company lowered its production target to 331-341 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) from 355-365 million boe as it announced first-half net profit soaring 51.4 percent year-on-year to 39.34 billion yuan ($6.2 billion).

"The Bohai Bay oil spill incident has rung the alarm to us: the safety and environmental risk is present at every moment," Wang said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

"We will further improve our management system and increase the awareness of safety and environmental protection among our staff, in order to avoid the recurrence of similar incidents in the future."

About 3,200 barrels of oil and oil-based mud -- a substance used as a lubricant in drilling -- have leaked in Bohai Bay, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing ConocoPhillips China president Georg Storaker.

Storaker said 95 percent of the oil-based mud had been cleaned up and the rest of the work would be completed by the end of the month.

The State Oceanic Administration (SOA) -- which supervises and manages China's seas -- has said it plans to sue ConocoPhillips over the spill, which was first detected in early June.

SOA has not said whether it will take action against CNOOC.

A Chinese lawyer is also suing CNOOC and ConocoPhillips over the leaks, state media said previously.

Wang said the better-than-expected net profit for the January-June period was driven by "higher international oil prices and outstanding cost control measures".

Analysts had expected CNOOC to report a net profit of 36.4 billion yuan, according to a Dow Jones Newswire survey.

But Wang warned crude prices were becoming "increasingly volatile" due to turmoil in the US and European economies and conflict in the Middle East and North Africa.

CNOOC said its revenue jumped 51 percent to 124.57 billion yuan as the average selling price of its crude oil rose nearly 41 percent to $108.16 a barrel in the first half.

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