Oil Profits Stable despite Output Fall: PetroChina

China's largest oil producer - PetroChina - announced Monday that its crude oil production slightly declined while its natural gas production rose more than 10 per cent during the first half of this year.

A company spokesman said lower price and production for crude oil would not hit the half-year profit, thanks to its cost-cutting efforts.

Monday's half-year operation report stated that oil output slid by 0.9 per cent to 380.7 million barrels during the period, while natural gas output rose 10.1 per cent year-on-year to 278.9 billion cubic feet.

The spokesman said PetroChina reduced its oil production in a bid to slash production costs as it had promised investors.

"We have controlled the production of some old oilfields that are difficult to develop in an effort to improve profits," said the spokesman.

According to yesterday's report, the average sale price for PetroChina's crude oil stood at US$24.65 a barrel, down 2.7 per cent from the same period of last year.

An analyst from the China Petroleum Information Institute of China National Petroleum Corp, also said the lower oil price would not push down the half-year profit for the company from the record high of 23.1 billion yuan (US$2.8 billion) of the same period last year.

"The losses in crude oil sales could be offset by the price rise in refined oil products," said the analyst.

In the past six months, the price for refined oil products, such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, rose by 15 per cent year-on-year.

Before China linked the price for refined oil products in line with the international market last June, the price was far below the international market, putting most domestic refineries in red.

PetroChina's spokesman said the company would match to last year's net profit of 55.2 billion yuan (US$6.7 billion) if the price for crude oil remains at the current US$24 a barrel.

The company processed 280 million barrels of crude oil in the first six months, up 6.7 per cent from the same period last year, the report said.

It controls 11,859 petrol stations, representing an increase of 21.9 per cent year-on-year.






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