PetroChina net profit down 68.1% in first nine months of 2015

[BEIJING] PetroChina , China's biggest oil and gas producer, reported a 68.1 per cent drop in net earnings for the first nine months of the year, as oil prices fell.

The company's average realised oil price declined by 48.8 per cent to US$51.16 a barrel.

Nine-month net profit was 30.6 billion yuan (US$4.81 billion), down from 96.0 billion in the same year-earlier period, the state-controlled company said on Thursday in a filing with the Shanghai stock market.

Net profit for July-September declined 81.4 percent to 5.2 billion yuan (US$818.23 million) from 27.9 billion yuan a year earlier.

Operating profit at the exploration and production segment fell 68.1 per cent in the first nine months to 46.5 billion yuan, while crude output rose 3.3 per cent on year to 722.9 million barrels.

The refining and chemicals business posted an operating profit of 3.0 billion yuan, compared with a loss in the same period last year of 8.8 billion yuan.

The marketing division posted an operating loss of 978 million yuan on low prices for refined fuels, compared to a profit of 10.6 billion yuan during the same period last year.

The natural gas and pipeline segment continued to expand, with operating profit rising 174.9 per cent to 25.4 billion yuan.

REUTERS