PetroChina third-quarter and first nine-month profit both up nearly 22 per cent
PetroChina reported a nearly 22 per cent rise in net profit for both the third quarter and the first nine months of the year, driven by higher crude oil prices. Third-quarter profit reached 51.84 billion yuan, while first-nine-month profit hit 155.78 billion yuan.
PetroChina announced on Wednesday that its net profit for the third quarter rose nearly 22 per cent year on year to 51.84 billion yuan (US$7.2 billion), according to international financial reporting standards. Revenue for the July-September period increased by more than 10 per cent to 793.57 billion yuan.
For the first nine months of the year, the state-owned oil and gas giant posted a profit of 155.78 billion yuan, also up nearly 22 per cent from a year earlier. Revenue climbed 7 per cent to 2.32 trillion yuan during the period.
The company attributed the profit growth to higher realised crude oil prices. The average realised price for crude oil in the first nine months was US$77.65 per barrel, an increase of 18.5 per cent year on year. The average domestic natural gas selling price was US$9.4 per thousand cubic feet, up 1.7 per cent after excluding exchange rate effects.
Total oil and gas equivalent production in the first three quarters was about 1.38 billion barrels, down slightly by 0.02 per cent year on year. Domestic production rose more than 1 per cent to 1.25 billion barrels, while overseas production fell 10 per cent to just over 140 million barrels, mainly due to geopolitical tensions that led to a decline in crude output from the Middle East.
In the third quarter alone, oil and gas equivalent production reached nearly 460 million barrels, up more than 1 per cent quarter on quarter. Overseas production in the quarter rose more than 24 per cent quarter on quarter to 45.3 million barrels.