CNOOC and Sinopec reporterd a surge in Q1 revenues and profits, while PetroChina continues to struggle.
PetroChina group has reported an 8% year-on-year drop in 2013 first quarter net profit to 36.02bn yuan ($5.73bn). Meanwhile, fellow state-owned oil giants Sinopec and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) have reported a surge in production, profit and revenues during the same period.
Crude production at PetroChina Group increased 1.8% to 231m barrels, with natural gas production increasing a 4.8% to 745.3 billion cubic feet during the same period. However, as China’s largest oil and gas exporter, PetroChina’s bottom line was adversely affected by the global slump in crude oil prices.
Conversely, falling oil prices contributed to a 24.4% year-on-year rise in Sinopec’s first quarter net profit. Analysts attribute the company’s surge in profits, which totalled 16.68bn yuan ($2.72bn) in the first three months of 2013, to a government-sanctioned hike in fuel prices and increased profitability in its refining sector.
CNOOC also benefited from the low price of crude, as well as from additional output from its recent acquisition of Canada’s Nexen Inc. China’s largest offshore oil producer announced first quarter oil and gas sales rose 13.3% year-on-year, bringing in revenues of 55.31bn yuan ($8.89bn). Net output of oil and gas jumped 17.3% to 93.6m barrels during the same period.