PetroChina hit by drop in profit

Cost-cutting program planned; further challenges expected

PetroChina Co, the listed arm of the country's biggest oil and gas producer China National Petroleum Corp, has reported a 17.3 percent fall in net profit for last year.

The State-owned oil giant delivered a profit of 107.17 billion yuan ($17.25 billion) for 2014, down from 129.6 billion in the previous year. Revenue rose 1.1 percent to 2.28 trillion yuan from 2.258 trillion yuan a year earlier. The company blamed the profit decline on the global crude price plunge in the second half of the last year and slowing oil demand in the market.