PetroChina's H1 profits down 5.4% from the previous record

PetroChina, China's largest gas and oil company, reported a 5.4% drop in its first-half net profit compared to a record set a year ago, due to lower oil prices.

According to a filing at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the net profit was 84 billion Yuan ($11.7billion), down from the 88.8billion yuan of the same period in last year. Revenues fell 6.7%, to 1.45trillion yuan.

PetroChina, China’s second largest refiner, reported a 0.1% increase in crude throughput to 694.3 millions barrels or 3.84million barrels per day. The total volume of gasoline, diesel, and kerosene sold for the period decreased 1.5%, to 77.83 millions metric tons. Diesel sales fell 2.4%, while gasoline's decline was 5%. Aviation fuel sales rose by 12.4%, to 11.5 millions tons.

The company stated that "the domestic refined oil market is still facing competition from alternative energies, while the consumption of natural gas has remained stable."

The domestic gas market grew by 4.2% to 119.8 billion cubic meters, while the natural gas market grew by 2.9%.

The company reported that refueling with liquefied gas as a substitute for diesel fuel grew by 58.9% on an annual basis.

The crude oil production rose by 0.3% on an annual basis to 476.4 millions barrels or 2.63 Mbpd.

The domestic natural gas production rose by 4.7%, to 2,602.6 Billion cubic feet. Meanwhile, overseas production dropped 16.8%, to 81 Billion cubic feet.

The production of chemicals totaled 19,97 million tons in 2017, an increase of 4.9% compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, new materials increased by 55%, reaching 1.665 millions tons.

PetroChina predicts that the Chinese oil market will continue to be challenged by alternative energies, but that natural gas demand is expected to grow quickly in the second half.

The Hang Seng Index is up 27.2% this year and its Hong Kong listed shares are up 21.6%.

(source: Reuters)