PetroChina net profit rises 9.6 pct

Oil giant PetroChina Company Limited on Tuesday announced a 9.6-percent increase in its net profit for the first three quarters of 2013 as the company managed to adapt to market changes.

Net profit during the Jan.-Sept. period came in at 95.3 billion yuan (15.5 billion U.S. dollars), with earnings per share up 5.8 percent to 0.21 yuan based on international financial reporting standards, the company said in a statement filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Its output of crude oil and marketable natural gas went up 2.2 percent and 9 percent year on year, respectively, to 698 million barrels and 2.05 trillion cubic feet, according to the statement.

Due to price decreases and higher costs, profit from operations in the exploration and production segment went down 10 percent as compared with the same period last year.

In the first nine months, PetrocChina processed 734.5 million barrels of crude oil, a decrease of 1.2 percent from a year earlier, and it posted combined losses of 20 billion yuan in the refining and chemicals sectors although the deficit is narrowing.

Affected by the sluggish global economy that dented demand for refined products, profit from the sales segment saw a sharp drop of 43.1 percent.

PetroChina is the Hong Kong- and Shanghai-listed subsidiary of the China National Petroleum Corporation.