In the third quarter of 2020, state-run PetroChina posted a surge in profits on the back of the sales of its Chinese pipeline assets, which helped alleviate the weaker market conditions.
In the July-September period, PetroChina posted a profit of CNY40.05 billion (USD5.97 billion) almost fourfold of the same period a year earlier. This was supported by the sale of most of its oil and gas pipelines and some storage facilities to PipeChina at the end of the quarter, with a profit of CNY45.82 billion (USD6.8 billion) in the first nine months of the year.
In the January-September period, profit slumped 73% year-on-year to CNY10.07 billion (USD1.5 billion). It was, however, still a distinguished improvement compared to the loss of CNY30 billion (USD4.47 billion) in the first six months of the years.
In the first nine months of 2020, crude output climbed by 2.7% to 701.2 million barrels (2.56 million bpd), mainly pushed by gains in PetroChina's overseas fields. Total upstream production was up by 4.3% to 1.21 billion boe (442,000 boepd).
Meanwhile, PetroChina’s exploration and production segment saw operating profits slumped by 64% due to the weaker oil and gas prices, even when profit rebounded in the third quarter after the previous quarter’s loss.
Refining and chemical operations dropped to a loss of CNY1.67 billion (USD248.8 million), way below the CNY9 billion (USD1.3 billion) of profit in the corresponding time of 2019 on the back of the slump in demand, prices, and margins.
In the first nine months, the output of all refined products went down, but petrochemical results increased. In the third quarter, performance picked up as the markets strengthened.
