PetroChina (0857), Asia’s largest oil and gas producer, posted a 1.9 percent rise in first-quarter profit on Wednesday, citing growing sales of natural gas and refined fuel as well as improved margins in the refining and chemical sector.
The Chinese state oil giant’s net income came in at 48.33 billion yuan (HK$55.5 billion), up from 47.45 billion yuan a year earlier, a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange showed.
Revenue fell 2.2 percent to 736.4 billion yuan.
Sinopec (0836), the world’s largest refiner by capacity, and CNOOC (0883), China’s major offshore oil producer, also reported higher net profits this week.
PetroChina’s domestic oil production between January and March was unchanged from a year earlier at 197.9 million barrels, or 2.2 million barrels per day, while gas output rose 2.4 percent to 1,352.6 billion cubic feet.
However, overseas oil production was down 5.6 percent to 39.9 million barrels in the period, though overseas gas output rose 4.1 percent to 41.7 billion cubic feet.
Natural gas sales grew 3.5 percent to 73.81 billion cubic metres, leading to a 40 percent rise in operating profit to 18.87 billion yuan.
As China’s second-largest refiner by capacity, PetroChina processed 343 million barrels of oil in the first three months, or 3.81 million bpd, up 1.7 percent year-on-year.
Refining profit rose 57.7 percent to 7.18 billion yuan on higher margins.
PetroChina also lifted fuel sales, with volumes of gasoline, kerosene and diesel combined up 4.8 percent to 36.78 million metric tons, including 28.02 million tons sold domestically.
Among the products, aviation fuel sales grew the fastest with a 23 percent year-on-year increase.
The group achieved 28 percent year-on-year growth in operating profit for refined fuel sales, due to the increase in the domestic sales volume and improved margins in international trading.
Its ethylene production expanded 21.4 percent on the year to 2.76 million tons.
PetroChina’s Hong Kong-listed stock has risen 42.96 percent so far this year, outperforming a 1.88 percent rise in the Hang Seng Index.
Reuters
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