PetroChina Increases Output of Oil and Gas BUSINESS ASIA

PetroChina Increases Output of Oil and Gas BUSINESS ASIA

PetroChina increased oil and natural gas production 6.8 percent in the first half as energy demand soared in the world’s fastest- growing major economy, the company said Monday.

Crude and gas output rose to the equivalent of 533.2 million barrels of oil, the company said. Oil production gained 1.8 percent from a year earlier, while gas output jumped 31 percent. The average price PetroChina received for its crude oil soared 36 percent to $58.96 a barrel

The nation’s biggest oil company benefited from expanded production at new fields amid record global prices for crude and as China allowed gas distributors to charge more for the fuel. China is expected consume 5.5 percent more crude oil next year, the International Energy Agency said last week, after an estimated increase of 6.1 percent in 2006.

“The persistent strength in global oil prices and China’s will to boost domestic gas prices could mean more earnings upgrades ahead,” Gordon Kwan, who heads China oil and gas research at CLSA in Hong Kong, said in a research note Monday. The figures increase the chances “for the oil giant delivering the highest ever first-half net profit by any company in Asia.”

Oil production reached 419.1 million barrels in the first six months of this year as natural gas output reached 684.7 billion cubic feet, or 63.6 billion cubic meters, PetroChina said. It sold gas at $2.43 per thousand cubic feet, compared with $2.00 per thousand cubic feet a year earlier, a gain of 22 percent.

In the second quarter, PetroChina produced 211.4 million barrels of crude oil and sold 324.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas, according to the statement.

PetroChina’s oil processing in the first half rose 3.5 percent to 392.6 million barrels, according to the statement. The company turned 195.8 million barrels of oil into fuels in the second quarter. The company increased the number of filling stations it operates 4.3 percent from a year earlier to 18,000.

The Daqing oilfield, operated by PetroChina, is expected to continue producing for at least another 50 years as technology used to extract crude from the nation’s largest onshore source of the fuel improves. Production from the field will be maintained at 2005′s level of 45 million tons, or about 900,000 barrels a day, for the next five years, Han Xuejian, the mayor of Daqing, said.

PetroChina’s overseas fields pumped 23.7 million barrels of oil and 21.08 billion cubic feet of gas in the first six months, the company said.

Gasoline production in the first half rose 3.2 percent to 11 million metric tons. PetroChina sold the fuel for $495.63 a ton, 28.2 percent more than a year earlier, the statement said.

Diesel production rose 2.6 percent to 22.2 million tons, and PetroChina sold the fuel at $482.67 a ton, an increase of 32.4 percent. Kerosene output over the six-month period rose 6.7 percent to 1 million ton. The company sold the fuel at $531.56 a ton, compared with $410.79 a year earlier, according to the statement.

PetroChina’s gasoline output was 5.4 million tons in the second quarter, diesel production 11.1 million tons and kerosene output 526,000 tons. The company’s ethylene output rose 6.6 percent in the first six months to 1 million ton, PetroChina said. Second-quarter production of the chemical, a raw material used to make plastics, was 523,000 tons.

(c) 2006 International Herald Tribune. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

Source: International Herald Tribune

Share this post