PetroChina '09 net profit dips 9.7% to $15.1bn on oil price fall

25 March 2010 13:15  [Source: ICIS news]

SHANGHAI (ICIS news)--PetroChina posted a 9.7% year-on-year drop in net profit for the full year of 2009 to yuan (CNY) 103.4bn ($15.1bn) as a result of falling crude oil prices amid the global financial crisis, China’s top oil and gas producer said on Thursday.

For the twelve months ended 31 December 2009, the group achieved a turnover of CNY1,019.3bn, representing a decrease of 5.0% year on year, according to a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The company blamed the lower turnover on decreases in selling prices and changes in the sales volume of major products including crude oil, gasoline, diesel and kerosene.

PetroChina's 2009 operating profit declined 10.1% year on year to CNY143.4bn, it said.

The exploration and production segment’s operating profit for the past twelve months plummeted by 56.3% to CNY105.02bn year on year due to a sharp decrease in crude oil prices, PetroChina said.

However, the exploration and production segment remains the most important contributor to group profit, it added.

The refining and chemicals segment swung to an operating profit of CNY17.3bn in 2009, compared with a loss of CNY93.8bn in 2008, due to cost cutting and initiatives to achieve greater efficiency, the filing said.

The marketing segment posted a 66.2% year-on-year rise in its 2009 operating profit to CNY13.3bn, while the operating profit of the natural gas and pipeline segment rose 18.6% to CNY19.05bn, according to the filing.

Last year, the group’s capital expenditure increased 14.8% year on year to CNY266.8bn, primarily due to an increase in sales networking costs and the construction of natural gas pipelines, PetroChina said.

In 2009, the group’s crude oil output fell 3.1% to 843.5m barrels from the previous year, while its refineries processed 829m barrels of crude oil, down 2.5% year-on-year.

Ethylene output rose 11.7% year on year to nearly 3m tonnes in 2009, and synthetic rubber production surged by 22.1% to 420,000 tonnes, the oil giant said.

($1 = CNY6.83)

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By: Judith Wang
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