PetroChina Company Limited (PetroChina), a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China's largest oil producer, announced record net profit of 61.6 billion yuan (7.6 billion US dollars) in the first half of this year, up 36.1 percent year on year.

Spurred by higher oil price, PetroChina saw a record turnover of 252.5 billion yuan (31.2 billion US dollars)in the first six months, representing an increase of 41.5 percent over the same period of last year.

The half-year operating profits reached 85.5 billion yuan (10.6 billion US dollars), up 33.1 percent year on year.

Having achieved a series of milestones in oil and gas exploration this year, PetroChina saw it's oil and gas output amounted to 481 million barrels of oil equivalent in the first half of this year, representing an increase of 5.3 percent over the same period of last year.

It produced 397 million barrels of crude oil, up 2.1 percent year on year, and 506.4 billion cubic feet of marketable natural gas, 23.4 percent more than a year ago.

During the first half year, PetroChina's oil and gas exploration and production sector recorded an operating profit of 84.7 billion yuan (10.5 billion US dollars), a year-on-year growth of 60.7 percent as the company's average realized price for crude oil rose to 43.42 US dollars per barrel in the first half year from 29.76 US dollars a year ago.

In the first six months, PetroChina's refining business maintained steady growth.

The company processed 379 million barrels of crude oil, 7.4 percent more than a year ago. The total output of gasoline, diesel and kerosene was approximately 33.33 million tons, while the sale volume of refined products reached 38.38 million tons which represented a year-on-year growth of 15.7 percent. The retail volume was 18.29 million tons, up 28.9 percent year on year.

By the end of June, PetroChina's service stations totaled 17,215, up 3.2 percent year on year. The number of service stations owned by the company increased by 2,070 over a year ago.

From January to June, PetroChina's refining and marketing sector recorded an operating loss of 5.95 billion yuan (735 million US dollars) due to a lower increase in refined products output price than that of the crude oil price. However, the sector saw improved key technical and cost indicators compared to the same period of last year.

In the first half of the year, PetroChina's chemicals and marketing sector recorded an operating profit of 5.756 billion yuan (711 billion US dollars), 3.803 billion yuan (470 million US dollars) higher than a year ago.

During this period, PetroChina produced 941 thousand tons of ethylene, 142 thousand tons of synthetic rubber, 1.311 million tons of synthetic resin and 1.957 million tons of urea, representing an increase of 2.0 percent, 6.8 percent, 1.0 percent and 3.0 percent respectively over the same period of 2004.

PetroChina saw its second Shaanxi-Beijing Pipeline put into operation on July 1. With a trunk length of 935 kilometers and a designed annual capacity of 12 billion cubic meters, the company will effectively improve its capacity of supplying natural gas to Beijing and North China.

By the end of May, PetroChina completed the construction of the Xiangtan branch of the Zhongxian-Wuhan Pipeline in Central China's Hunan Province and made smooth progress in building auxiliary facilities for the pipeline pumping natural gas from energy-rich west to energy-thirsty east. The construction of gas compressor stations and gas storages proceeded on track as scheduled.

During the first six months, the natural gas and pipeline business of PetroChina recorded an operating profit of 1.478 billion yuan (182 million US dollars), up 19.9 percent year on year.

In a bid to provide a new platform for the growth of its overseas business, PetroChina announced this June that it would acquire certain overseas assets from its parent CNPC. The acquisition agreement and transfer agreement were duly passed by the independent shareholders at the extraordinary general meeting of the Company held last Tuesday.

Following the overseas business integration, the company's total oil and gas reserves is expected to increase by 4.31 percent and total oil and gas output to rise by 5.41 percent according to the basis of 2004.

Source: Xinhua