BEIJING: PetroChina Co, the country’s biggest oil and gas producer by volume, said yesterday that its net profit plunged 63 percent in the first half of the year as falling oil prices squeezed earnings.
Net income dived to 25.4 billion yuan (US$4 billion) in the half year ended on June 30 from 68.1 billion yuan a year earlier, the state-owned oil giant said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange. Its earnings per share fell 39 percent to 0.14 yuan.
The company’s turnover shed 24 percent to 877.6 billion yuan as an increase in sales volume failed to offset the impact of slumping oil prices.
“The global oil price is likely to stay low,” PetroChina said in the filing. “The growth in domestic demand for oil and gas will slow down and the market competition will get tougher.”
The company’s average realized price of crude oil dropped 45 percent while average natural gas prices rose 0.4 percent.
PetroChina’s production of oil and natural gas rose 2.9 percent to 75.9 million barrels of oil equivalent, boosted by a 38.3 percent jump in overseas output in the first half. Domestic production dipped 0.7 percent during the period.
CNOOC Ltd, China’s biggest offshore oil and gas firm, posted a 56 percent slump in first-half net profit while China Petroleum & Chemical Corp saw a 22 percent drop in profit.
