PetroChina's profit for the first quarter is up due to increased gas and fuel sales

PetroChina, Asia's biggest oil and -gas producer, announced a 1.9% increase in its first-quarter profit on Wednesday. The company cited a rise in sales of refined fuel and natural gas, as well as improved margins within the chemical and refining sector.

A filing at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange revealed that the Chinese state oil company's net profit was 48.33 billion Yuan ($7.07billion), up from 47.45billion yuan one year ago.

Revenue dropped 2.2% to 736.4 billion yuan.

Sinopec and CNOOC - China's biggest offshore oil producer - also reported increased net profits in the last week.

SALE OF NATURAL GAS AND REFINED FUEL UP

PetroChina's oil production in January to March remained unchanged from a year ago at 197.9 millions barrels or 2.2million barrels per day. Gas output increased 2.4% to 1,352.6 billion cubic feet.

During the same period, however, oil production overseas fell 5.6% to 39.9 millions barrels, while gas production overseas rose 4.1%, reaching 41.7 billion cubic foot.

The natural gas sales rose 3.5%, to 73.81 bcm. This led to an increase of 40% in the operating profit at 18.87 billion yuan.

PetroChina, China's second largest refiner, processed 343 millions barrels of crude oil in the first three months. This is 3.81 million barrels per day, an increase of 1.7% on a year-on-year basis.

The margins of the refinery contributed to a 57.7% increase in profit.

PetroChina also increased fuel sales. The combined volumes of gasoline and kerosene, as well as diesel, rose 4.8%, to a total of?36.78 millions metric tons. This includes 28.02 tons that were sold in the domestic market.

Aviation fuel was the product that grew the fastest, with an increase of 23% on a year-on-year basis.

Due to an increase in domestic sales and improved margins on international trade, the group saw a 28% increase in operating profit year-on-year for refined fuel sales.

The ethylene production of the country grew by 21.4% over the past year to 2.76 million tonnes.

PetroChina's Hong Kong listed stock has increased 42.96% this year. This is a far greater increase than the Hang Seng Index, which rose 1.88%. (Reporting and editing by Sam Li, Aizhu Chan; Joe Bavier).

(source: Reuters)