PetroChina's net profit for the third quarter is down 3.9% on an annual basis

PetroChina Co Ltd, Asia's biggest oil and gas producer, reported on Thursday that its third quarter net profit fell 3.9% from the previous year due to lower crude oil prices. However, it continued to maintain steady crude production while expanding natural gas output.

In a filing to the stock exchange, the company reported that its net profit had fallen to 42.29 billion Yuan ($5.94billion), while revenues rose by 2.3% to reach 719.16 milliards yuan.

CNOOC Ltd, a domestic offshore oil and natural gas producer, reported a 12% drop in earnings for the quarter on Thursday. Meanwhile, Sinopec Corp. posted essentially flat earnings for the same time period on Wednesday.

PetroChina has produced 714.3 millions barrels of crude oil in the first nine month of this year. This is 0.8% more than last year. Of these, 591.3million barrels or 82.8% were produced at home.

The nine-month natural gas production increased 4.6% on an annual basis to 3,977.2 billion cubic feet, with 97% of it produced in China.

PetroChina, China's second largest refiner, after Sinopec grew crude oil processing by 0.4% to 1,040.6 millions barrels or 3.81million barrels per day over the nine-month period.

The sales of gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel increased by 0.8% on an annual basis to 120.9 millions metric tons. This reverses a drop of 4.6% in the same period last year. Domestic sales were flat at 89.64 millions tons.

Aviation fuel grew 13.2%, while diesel grew 0.3%. The gasoline sales fell 2.6% due to the competition from electric cars.

The company stated that it would continue to focus on exploration and development, with an emphasis on increasing reserves and producing more while upgrading its refinery and chemicals businesses.

Renewables generated 5,79 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in the period January-September, an increase of 72% on a year-on year basis.

Natural gas sales rose by 4.2% in the first quarter to 218.5 billion cubic meters (bcm), with 171 bcm of that sold within the country.

Capital expenditures for the nine months totaled 177.2 billion Yuan, down from 180.2 billion Yuan a year ago.

PetroChina shares listed in Hong Kong have increased 30.4% this year, slightly behind the 31% increase in the Hang Seng Index.

(source: Reuters)