PetroChina warns net income dropped as much as 80% in 2016

[HONG KONG] PetroChina Co, the country's biggest listed oil and gas producer, said full-year income in 2016 fell by as much as 80 per cent.

The Beijing-based company blamed the slump on international oil prices continuing to hover at low levels and domestic natural gas prices dropping significantly compared to the previous year, it said in a filing with the Shanghai stock exchange on Wednesday.

The warning comes after the company in October said third-quarter profit dropped 77 per cent and it barely eked out a half-year profit. The company will continue to improve cost cutting in 2017 and it expects the global oil market will rebalance with crude prices expected to rise, it said in its statement.

Brent crude averaged about US$45 a barrel last year, down from almost US$54 in 2015. The government cut gas prices in November 2015 in order to spur consumption.

BLOOMBERG