Crude slump takes toll on major oil firms

PetroChina Co, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp and CNOOC Ltd, the nation's biggest oil producers, fell by a record in Hong Kong yesterday trading on concerns the slump in crude oil prices may crimp earnings.

PetroChina dropped as much as 17 percent, the most since it started trading on April 7, 2000, to HK$6. Sinopec, as China Petroleum is known, fell 13 percent to HK$4.90, while CNOOC plunged as much as 18 percent before closing at HK$6.50.

US crude oil prices have dropped 39 percent in almost three months, dragging down the share prices of Chinese oil companies. Last month, Goldman Sachs Group Inc slashed its 2009 oil price forecast by more than 20 percent to $110 a barrel from $140 on slowing global economic growth.