Profit up for oil producer

HONG KONG: PetroChina Co Ltd, China's largest oil and gas producer, yesterday posted a lower-than-expected 2.4 percent growth in its net profit in 2007 of 145.63 billion yuan.

PetroChina's turnover in 2007 reached 835.04 billion yuan, an increase of 21.2 percent from the previous year. Its total output of crude oil and natural gas was 1.11 billion barrels of oil equivalent, an increase of 4.8 percent from 2006.

Analysts said windfall taxes and refining losses are eating into the company's profits. PetroChina paid 44.58 billion yuan in windfall levies in 2007, 54 percent more than in 2006. Its refining arm reported a loss of 20.68 billion yuan in 2007, compared with a 8.5 billion yuan loss in 2006.