Oil and gas-themed stocks rose in China on August 18, with the Huatai-PineBridge Oil and Gas ETF (159309) opening higher and briefly gaining more than 1%, according to Jiemian News. The ETF was up 0.86% at 10:35, while constituent stocks including Offshore Oil Engineering rose more than 7.8%, China National Offshore Oil, Guanghui Energy and PetroChina gained more than 1.7% to 2%, and China Petroleum & Chemical and COSCO Shipping Energy Transportation also advanced.

Offshore Oil Engineering said in its 2026 interim results that first-half revenue rose 9.42% year on year to 12.384 billion yuan, while net profit attributable to shareholders fell 0.64% to 1.091 billion yuan. In the second quarter, revenue increased 18.77% to 7.389 billion yuan and attributable net profit rose 17.11% to 653 million yuan.

Oil prices climbed overnight, with U.S. crude futures up 3.09% and Brent up 2.91%, after tensions in the Middle East intensified and concerns grew over disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Jiemian News also cited a new oil and gas development plan that targets 440 million tons of oil equivalent in domestic oil and gas supply by 2030, 20,000 kilometers of new long-distance pipelines, natural gas storage capacity above 13% of national consumption, and annual CCS/CCUS carbon dioxide injection of 10 million tons.