PetroChina Q3 Profit Drops 77%

PetroChina on October 28 reported a sharp 77% drop in third quarter net profit as oil and gas prices remained soft and demand stayed sluggish. Net profit attributable to its owners stood at yuan 1.2bn ($177mn) for the July-September period.

In the exploration and production segment in the first three quarters of 2016 the company recorded crude oil output of 696.6mn barrels, representing a decrease of 3.6% compared with the same period last year. Marketable natural gas output was 2,428.9bn ft³, up 6.1% on year. Its oil and natural gas output reached 1,101.5mn barrels of oil equivalent (boe), representing a decrease of 0.3% compared with the same period in 2015. Overseas production was 154.7mn boe, up 7.8% on year.

In the first three quarters of 2016, the natural gas and pipeline segment recorded net loss of yuan 10.573bn on the sale of imported pipeline gas and LNG. PetroChina managed to lower the loss by yuan 1.198bn from a year ago.  

The company added that in the fourth quarter it would continue to focus on cost reduction. With oil prices having dropped significantly from the highs seen in mid-2014, some Chinese state owned firm are struggling to maintain a steady performance. On October 26, state owned offshore explorer Cnooc reported a 7.7% year-on-year decline in third quarter output amid weak demand in downstream gas market. 

 LNG storage tank (Credit: PetroChina)

Shardul Sharma