Chinese energy giant PetroChina Co Ltd (中國石油天然氣股份有限公司) said its net profit plunged 82 percent year-on-year in the first three months of the year, blaming the plunge in international oil prices.
Net profit came in at 6.15 billion yuan (US$1.01 billion) in the first quarter, down from 34.25 billion yuan for the same period last year, the company said late on Monday in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange, where it is listed.
“In the first quarter of 2015, the world economy recovered slowly and geopolitics continued to be turbulent,” the company said, adding that China’s economic growth slowed for the period.
China’s economy grew 7 percent year-on-year in the first three months, the worst showing for a single quarter since the first three months of 2009. It grew 7.4 percent for all of last year, the slowest pace in nearly a quarter of a century.
“International crude oil prices have significantly declined since the second half of 2014 and fluctuated at a low level in the first quarter of 2015,” PetroChina chairman Zhou Jiping (周吉平) said in the statement.
The price of a barrel of oil has almost halved since June last year, owing to a surge in supplies and a slump in demand.
PetroChina turnover slumped 22.4 percent year-on-year to 410.34 billion yuan in the first quarter, the statement said.
PetroChina, the listed arm of China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC, 中國石油天然氣), issued a warning for first-half earnings, saying the company expects its net profit to decrease substantially if oil prices remain low.
PetroChina shares were down 5.45 percent in Hong Kong yesterday afternoon and 1.77 percent lower in Shanghai, where it is also listed.
Separately, PetroChina denied that the Chinese government is working on forming an oil giant by merging CNPC with another oil firm, Sinopec, according to a separate statement.
Xinhua news agency on Monday said China is considering merging scores of its biggest state-owned enterprises to create about 40 national champions from the existing 112 through mergers and acquisitions.
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