By Colleen Howe
BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s top energy producer PetroChina posted a 2.3% rise in first-quarter profit on Tuesday, citing higher natural gas output, even as poor margins weighed on the refined product business.
Profit attributable to owners of the company rose to 46.81 billion yuan ($6.44 billion) from 45.77 billion a year earlier, a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange showed.
Revenue fell 7.3% to 753.1 billion yuan.
By contrast, domestic peers reported lower profit, dragged down by lower oil prices. Sinopec Corp’s profit fell 27.6% versus a year earlier, weighed on also by declining fuel sales and thin margins in its refining segment. CNOOC Ltd cited weaker oil prices for its 7.9% decline in profit but higher output helped stem the decline.
China’s second-largest refiner, PetroChina said its total crude oil output increased 0.2% to 240.2 million barrels while gas output rose 1.2% to 1,361 billion cubic feet.
Sales in the natural gas division were up 3.7% to 86.44 billion cubic metres, leading to a 9.7% rise in operating profit to 13.51 billion yuan.
In the refining segment, profits fell by 2.42 billion yuan because of lower processing volumes and refining margins.
Between January and March, PetroChina processed 337.3 million barrels of crude, or 3.75 million barrels per day, down 4.7% from a year earlier.
Total sales volumes of gasoline, kerosene and diesel fell 6.3% to 36.78 million metric tons. Gasoline led the decline at 8.2%, while diesel sales dropped 5.1% and kerosene 4.3%.
PetroChina also said profit in the chemicals division also dipped by 308 million yuan because of lower margins.
PetroChina’s Hong Kong-listed shares closed down 1% on Monday after the earning results. They have fallen 11.41% this year, while the Hang Seng index has gained 9.71%.
(Reporting by Colleen Howe; editing by David Evans)
