LNG

PetroChina, the Chinese oil and gas major listed in Hong Kong and with LNG stakes in Canada and Mozambique, reported an 8.4 percent rise in first-quarter revenues and a return to profits after losses in the same three months of 2020, as it also completed the hand-over of control of the Dalian LNG terminal to the new state-owned energy infrastructure company.

ExxonMobil Chairman and Chief Executive Darren W. Woods said the US major was still committed to its Mozambique liquefied natural gas project as well as to other ventures amid further delays, while cutting back immediately in US Permian Basin production.

PetroChina, the Hong Kong-listed arm of China National Petroleum Corp. and with LNG project stakes in Mozambique and Canada, has swung to a first-quarter loss because of the effects of the coronavirus and as its own oil and natural gas output increased in a low-demand period.

The state-controlled Chinese major reported a net loss for the first three months of 2020 of 16.23 billion yuan ($2.29 billion) versus a profit of 10.24Bln yuan ($1.44Bln) in the prior-year quarter.

PetroChina’s revenues fell by 14.4 percent to 509 billion Chinese yuan ($79.9Bln), according to its earnings statement filed with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Crude oil production rose 4.2 percent to 232.7 million barrels and natural gas output increased 8.7 percent to 1,086.9 billion cubic feet.

“The increase in output was driven by new oil and gas capacity built in 2019,” said PetroChina.

“Facing a severe and complicated economy and operational situation both abroad and domestically, the group faithfully acted out the new concept of development, pushed ahead with quality-based development, paid more attention to green and low-carbon development and digital transformation as well as the value creation,” it added.

PetroChina’s managing company CNPC imports pipeline natural gas from Central Asian countries and Russia as well as LNG from projects such as the Yamal plant in Siberia and from PetroChina LNG agreements.

The Chinese major is additionally part of Royal Dutch Shell’s LNG Canada project under its own name PetroChina and has a stake in the Area 4 reserves in the Rovuma Basin offshore Mozambique with Italian company Eni and ExxonMobil.

PetroChina also operations three important Chinese LNG import terminals at Dalian and Tangshan in the northeast of the country and at Rudong in the central Jiangsu province in the coastal area near Shanghai.

PetroChina also receives natural gas pipeline supplies from Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

“The production and sales plans for the first quarter were set in advance and lagged behind in terms of adjustment,” stated the company.

In response to the coronavirus pandemic and record-low oil prices, PetroChina said it would aim to “dynamically optimise” and adjust spending this year from a previously planned 295Bln yuan ($41Bln)

Its exploration and production business recorded a 14.88Bln yuan operating profit in the first quarter, up 3.9 percent and was helped by an 8.9 percent cut in operational costs.

PetroChina's crude oil throughput at refineries fell by 9.6 percent to 276.5 million barrels, or 3.04 million barrels per day, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Sales of refined oil products, including gasoline, diesel and kerosene, fell 15.9 percent to 3,547.8 tonnes, reducing profits by around 20.11 billion yuan ($2.84Bln).