The oil and gas exploration and production of PetroChina Company Limited (PetroChina) maintained a good momentum of development in 2004, with the operating profits of exploration and production reaching 125.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 35.9 percent.

"PetroChina made steady progress in crude oil production, and the growth of natural gas production further accelerated. The annual crude production last year stood at 778.4 million barrels, up 0.5 percent from last year. The production of natural gas for commercial purposes yielded 841.2 billion cubic metres, up 21.7 percent from last year," said an official with PetroChina.

Last year, PetroChina witnessed dramatic increase in terms of oil refining and sales income. The annual operational profits stood at 11.981 billion yuan, up 6.947 billion yuan from that last year. The business of oil refining got further optimized and the annual oil processing capacity was 698 million barrels, up 12.3 percent from last year.

Additionally, the marketing of PetroChina's product oil was further strengthened, which speeded up the construction of a marketing network. The annual sales volume of gas, coal, diesel totaled 67.01 tons, up 14.87 percent from last year and the sales volume topped 30.18 tons, a year-on-year increase of 35.3 percent. Mainwhile, PetroChina also set up 2,172 new gas stations nation wide, bringing the total number of gas stations to 17,403.

By People's Daily Online