PetroChina chemical output rises in Jan-Sept

15 October 2007 05:28  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--PetroChina, the world’s largest oil producer, said on Monday that its chemicals production rose for the first nine months of 2007 compared with the same period of 2006.

Accumulated production volume of ethylene for the nine months reached 1.89m tonnes, representing growth of 24.2% while production of synthetic resin rose 28.5% to 2.9m tonnes compared with the same period last year, the company said in a statement.

Its output of synthetic fibre raw materials and polymer rose 22% to 1.1m tonnes.

From July to September this year, the company’s production of ethylene rose 12.9% to 587,000 tonnes while production of synthetic resin increased by 23.5% to 899,000 tonnes compared with the same period last year.

Its production of synthetic fibre raw materials and polymers jumped 45.5% to 403,000 tonne in the third quarter this year compared with the same period in 2006.

PetroChina is to add over 3m tonnes/year of ethylene on stream until 2010. It has four cracker projects under way in Dushanzi, Xinjiang province, Chengdu, Sichuan province, Fushun, Liaoning province, and in Daqing, Heilongjiang province.

The energy major is also building two 10m tonne/year refineries in Chengdu and Qinzhou, Guangxi province and is expanding its refining capacity in Dushanzi and Fushun.

Subisidiary Lanzhou Petrochemical started up its new 300,000 tonne/year high density polyethylene/linear low density PE (HDPE/LLDPE) swing plant, a 300,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP) unit and a 450,000 tonne/year cracker at Lanzhou in November.

Jilin Petrochemical started up its 300,000 tonne/year HDPE unit and its expanded 700,000 tonne/year cracker in April last year.

For the period from January to September this year, the company posted a 4.5% rise in oil and gas production as total accumulated output rose 4.3% year-on-year to 828m barrels of oil equivalent.

CLSA boosted its PetroChina target price to Hong Kong dollar (HK$) 20 ($2.58), reflecting continued superior crude oil production and reserves growth compared with its global peers and downstream efficiency enhancements, its head of oil and gas research Gordon Kwan said in a note.

The Hong Kong-listed firm’s share price jumped 8.3% to HK$18 in late morning trade after closing at $16.62 on Friday.

CLSA also quantified PetroChina’s chemical assets for the first time, valuing its chemical plants at eight times operating profit, or HK$0.57 per share.

PetroChina’s proven reserves were also the world’s largest among listed energy firms, said Kwan.

Production data (Unit: ‘000 tonne)

Product	Q3 2007	Jan-Sept 2007	Jan-Sept 2006	% change
Ethylene	587	1,892	1,523	30.1
Synthetic resin	899	2,896	2,253	31.0
Synthetic fibre raw materials and polymer	403	1,104	905	11.6

Source: PetroChina

($1 = HK$7.76)

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