PetroChina Co. Ltd.’s net income for the first half (H1) of 2024 rose 3.9 percent year-on-year to RMB 88.61 billion ($12.4 billion) as operating results broke company records for the period for the third consecutive year despite an overall weakening of demand in the oil and gas industry, the state-backed company reported.
The oil and gas exploration and production company posted 123 million tons in oil equivalent upstream production in January–June 2024, up 1.3 percent compared to the same six-month period last year. Crude oil output stood at 64.45 million tons. Marketable natural gas production was 73.18 billion cubic meters (2.6 trillion cubic feet).
PetroChina produced 60.12 million tons of refined petroleum products, up 2.1 percent as throughput increased three percent to 690 million barrels. Refinery sales totaled 79.05 million tons, of which 58.45 million tons ended up in the domestic market.
Meanwhile natural gas sales totaled 147.22 billion cubic meters (5.2 trillion cubic feet), up 12.9 percent against the first half of 2023. PetroChina sold 114.94 billion cubic meters (4.1 trillion cubic feet) in China.
In the power sector, it generated 2.17 billion kilowatt hours from wind and solar plants, of which 950 million kilowatt hours were supplied to external users. The figures were up 2.5 times and 4.5 times respectively.
PetroChina “newly acquired 3 7.25 million kilowatts of wind and photovoltaic power generation approval and signed contracts for geothermal heating services covering an area of 46.15 million square meters [496.8 million square feet]”, it said in the report on its website.
Additionally, PetroChina “further advanced the development of CCUS (carbon capture, utilization, and storage) business, and injected 0.84 million tons of CO2”.
PetroChina, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corp., logged RMB 1.6 trillion ($224.5 billion) in operating profit for the first half of 2024, up five percent year-over-year. The annualized return on equity landed at 10.4 percent.
It declared RMB 40.26 billion ($5.6 billion) in interim dividends, or RMB 0.22 ($0.03) per share. The company is paying a record-high interim dividend for the third consecutive year.
“With an emphasis on cost-effective development, the Company strengthened investment and cost management, optimized development strategies, and prioritized capacity building based on profitability metrics”, PetroChina said.
“Considerable efforts were devoted to controlling the decline rates of mature oil and gas fields and improving their recovery rates”, while several “large-scale” hydrocarbon discoveries were made, it said.
Downstream, PetroChina “enhanced integration of wholesale and retail operations, fuel and non-fuel products, and online and offline channels”.
“Despite a decline in overall market demand, the Company strived to maintain stable sales of refined products and increase its market share”, it said.
However, PetroChina saw “continuously rising natural gas demand” and thus “relentlessly developed gas power generation”.
For its marketing strategy, it said it has opted to make liquefied natural gas deals via exchange platforms and “enhanced online trading and redoubled efforts to pass on costs”, thereby improving profitability while increasing sales volumes.
Looking forward it said, “In the second half of 2024, the global economy is expected to maintain moderate growth and the Chinese economy will remain on an upward trend”.
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