PetroChina, the listed unit of state-owned CNPC and an LNG project stakeholder in Canada and Mozambique, has cashed in more net profits while revenues declined on lower commodity prices.
Revenues for the year dropped by 7 percent to 3.01 trillion yuan ($416.3bn) from 3.24 trillion yuan ($447.8bn) in 2022, with PetroChina blaming lower international oil and gas prices which affected the upstream earnings. Still, the company reported an 8.3 percent jump in net income for 2023 to 161 billion yuan ($22.3bn) compared with 148 billion yuan ($20.56bn) in the previous year. Basic earnings per share increased by 8.3 percent to 0.88 yuan from 0.81 yuan.
PetroChina pointed out that the Peoples Republic’s natural gas and LNG demand rebounded from 2022 when the government was still implementing Covid-19 lockdowns. The company’s gas sales in China hence rose by 6.1 percent year-on-year, while the operating profit from the natural gas business tripled.
“PetroChina’s refining and chemicals business took advantage of the domestic market recovery and boosted processing capacity,” said the company. However, “gas prices in major markets experienced a significant decline, but they were also disturbed by geopolitical and supply chain risks, causing wide and frequent fluctuations in gas prices,” the company added.
To stabilise supply, Chinese majors managed to boost domestic gas output by 5.6 percent to 232.43 billion cubic metres in 2023. Import, including pipeline natural gas and LNG, increased by 9.9 percent to 119.97 million tons in 2023 while China’s gas consumption increased by 7.6 percent to 394.53 Bcm, with the upward trend likely to continue.
