BEIJING (Reuters) – PetroChina, Asia’s largest oil and gas producer, on Sunday said annual net profit rose 2% to a record high, as moderately higher production helped to offset lower oil prices.
Its net profit totalled 164.7 billion yuan ($22.68 billion) in 2024, versus 161.1 billion yuan in 2023, while revenue dipped 2.5% to 2,938.0 billion yuan, PetroChina said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Domestic peer CNOOC Ltd on Thursday reported a 11.4% surge in net earnings to 137.9 billion yuan, while earnings at refining giant Sinopec fell 16.8% to 50.3 billion yuan.
State-controlled PetroChina produced 941.8 million barrels of crude oil last year, or 2.57 million barrels per day, up 0.5% from 2023.
Natural gas output was up 4.1% at 5,133.8 billion cubic feet (bcf).
The average realised price for crude oil was 3.8% lower compared to 2023 levels.
Refinery output fell 1.5% to 1.38 billion barrels, or 3.77 million barrels per day, down sharply from the previous year’s 15.3% growth as flagging economic growth and rapid vehicle electrification curbed fuel use.
PetroChina in late 2023 shut permanently half of its largest subsidiary refinery in northeast China, a move that aligns with Beijing’s policy to cap the country’s overall oil processing capacity to manage industry overcapacity, Reuters reported.
The company’s gasoline sales were down 4.5%, diesel was down 6.9%, and jet kerosene sales rose 9% thanks to an extended recovery in air travel.
In the meantime, output of chemical products increased 49.3% last year.
In 2024, “natural gas prices in the international market fell further. Competition in the domestic refined oil market has intensified, and the market consumption of natural gas has maintained rapid growth,” PetroChina’s Chairman Dai Houliang said in the filing.
For 2025, the natural gas market demand will maintain rapid growth, but the domestic refined oil market competition will further intensify, he said.
PetroChina forecasts crude oil output at 936.2 million barrels in 2025 and natural gas at 5,341 bcf.
It also aimed for refinery output this year to be 1.3 billion barrels, or 3.65 million barrels per day.
Capital spending is planned at 262.2 billion yuan for this year, compared with 275.8 billion spent in 2024.
The company also proposed a final dividend of 0.25 yuan per share, according to a separate filing.
($1 = 7.2628 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Ethan Wang in Beijing and Chen Aizhu in Singapore. Editing by Jane Merriman)
