PetroChina posts 40 billion yuan profit in third quarter

On October 29, 2020, CNPC announced that in the third quarter of this year, it began to shake off the losses since the first half of the year and achieved a net profit of 40.05 billion yuan (RMB) attributable to the shareholders of the parent company, a significant increase of 353.6% year-on-year.

In the first three quarters of this year, CNPC's crude oil average realized price of $40.06/barrel, down 34.9% year-on-year; natural gas average realized price of $4.61/thousand cubic feet, down 16.0% year-on-year. Under the unfavorable situation of a significant decline in international oil and gas prices, PetroChina continued to improve quality and efficiency, and strengthened control over capital expenditures and costs, with cash paid capital expenditures down 7.8% year-on-year, unit oil and gas operating costs down 10.7% year-on-year, and selling and administrative expenses down 7.9% year-on-year. In accordance with IFRS, the company achieved operating income of RMB1,426.17 billion and net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company of RMB10,067 million.

Meanwhile, PetroChina continued to optimize its exploration and production business, and made important discoveries and strategic breakthroughs in the Tarim, Sichuan, Junggar and Ordos basins. In the first three quarters of this year, PetroChina's production of crude oil increased by 2.7% year-on-year, production of saleable natural gas increased by 6.5% year-on-year, and oil and gas equivalent production increased by 4.3% year-on-year.

The refining and chemical business optimized the convergence of production and sales, actively promoted oil reduction and chemical enhancement, and strived to increase production of high value-added products. In the first three quarters of this year, PetroChina produced 80.092 million tons of gasoline, diesel and kerosene, with the output of chemical commodities increasing by 14.4% year-on-year and the operating profit of the chemical business increasing by 77.3% year-on-year.