PetroChina Triples Profit On Better Oil Prices

The biggest oil producer on the mainland, PetroChina, tripled its profit last year, rebounding on firmer crude prices, the company said, but its shares fell on Friday as markets tumbled amid US-China trade tensions.

Net profit last year rose to 22.8 billion yuan, compared to just 7.86 billion yuan in 2016, the company said in an overnight statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where its shares are listed.

PetroChina, 86 percent owned by its unlisted and government-controlled parent, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), also said it was paying a fresh dividend to shareholders of more than 11 billion yuan.

Added to a more than 12 billion yuan dividend for the first half announced in August, total shareholder dividends for 2017 were roughly equal to PetroChina's full-year annual profit.

"In 2017, supply and demand fundamentals in the international crude oil market took a turn for the better in general," PetroChina said. "International oil prices moved in a V shape and, taken as a whole, experienced a rise as compared with the last year."

It said an improving global economy and better-than-expected mainland economic growth also helped fuel growth.

Despite the upbeat earnings, PetroChina shares lost 3.35 percent in Shanghai, where it is also listed, and were 2.71 percent lower in Hong Kong by mid-day as both markets were rocked by the looming threat of a US-China trade war. (AFP)