PetroChina’s net profit soars 114%

CHINA’S biggest oil producer PetroChina said yesterday its net profit more than doubled in the first half of the year as global crude prices soared.

Net profit surged 113.7 percent from the same period last year to 27.1 billion yuan (US$4 billion), the company said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where it is listed.

PetroChina, 86 percent-owned by its unlisted parent China National Petroleum Corp, said the profit surge was due to the rise in crude prices.

“The fundamental supply and demand in the global oil market were on the tight side. The average international oil prices increased substantially as compared with the same period of last year,” PetroChina said.

Geopolitical risks in oil-producing countries also sent crude prices up, the report said.

“The recovery of crude prices was the biggest driver for its strong performance,” said Tian Miao, a Beijing-based analyst at Everbright Sun Hung Kai Co.

“PetroChina may continue to benefit from a rise in prices in the second half.”

Sinopec, the world’s biggest oil refiner and the listed unit of state-owned China Petrochemical Corp, said last week that its first half net profit climbed 51.8 percent from the same period last year to 42.4 billion yuan.

Sinopec attributed the result to strong domestic growth for oil products.

But it also warned that “uncertainty of international crude oil prices will increase due to trade frictions and geopolitical tensions”