PetroChina half year oil, gas output rises 1.9%
( 2002-07-17 10:14 ) (3 )

China's largest oil company PetroChina said its crude oil and natural gas output in the first six months of this year rose a higher-than-expected 1.9 per cent from a year earlier. Total production amounted to 435.5 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOEs) in the first six months, the company said.

"It is much better than I had expected. I was expecting less than 1 per cent growth in production," said Gordon Kwan, an analyst of HSBC Securities.

PetroChina produced 384.2 million barrels of crude oil in the first half, up 0.9 per cent. Natural gas output grew by 10.4 per cent to 307.8 billion cubic feet.

The company's realized crude oil price fell 18.1 per cent to US$20.18 per barrel.

Analysts said the drop was milder than they had expected and was largely due to declines in the international oil price.

Average realized price for natural gas edged up 1.6 per cent to US$1.95 per thousand cubic feet.

Gasoline fell 18.5 per cent to US$230.51 per ton, kerosene was down 19.4 per cent to US$226.9 per ton and diesel dropped 17.8 per cent to US$230.75 per ton.

Analysts attributed a host of factors to the depressed prices of PetroChina's energy products. They include cheap imports, smuggling and competition with China's No 2 oil company, according to Keith Li, an analyst of Daiwa Securities.

PetroChina's gasoline output fell 4.5 per cent to 8.04 million tons in the first half. Kerosene output was down 1.4 per cent to 976,000 tons, while diesel output grew 3.1 per cent to 14.32 million tons.

Ethylene output dropped 6.8 per cent to 740,000 tons, synthetic resin was down 6.8 per cent to 957,000 tons, synthetic fibre fell 21.7 per cent to 130,000 tons and synthetic rubber dropped 9.6 per cent to 103,000 tons.

Urea production rose 21.9 per cent to 1.76 million tons.

PetroChina's operating profit from the oil and gas exploration and development in the first half was estimated at about 33 billion yuan (US$4 billion), 20 per cent down on a year earlier period because of lower realized prices, said Lei Pan, an analyst of BOC International, in a report released Tuesday.

Weak demand and high inventory levels in May and June "neutralized" a strong recovery in gross oil refining margin recorded by PetroChina since March, Pan said.

The refining margin is expected to stabilize at current levels and the company's marketing segment was expected to turn around in the second half, Pan said.

Pan said he remained pessimistic about the margin of PetroChina's chemical unit, which is expected to remain a loss-making sector in the second half.

PetroChina's segmental operating profits in the second quarter were better than that for the first quarter but worse than those for the first half of last year, Pan said.