PetroChina starts year off with a bang

BEIJING - PetroChina Co, the listed unit of the nation's biggest energy company, posted a "very good" performance in the first two months of this year, said Chairman Jiang Jiemin.

The oil and gas producer will increase capital spending in 2011, Jiang said in an interview in Beijing on Monday, without giving details, or a reason for the company's performance. Exploration and production accounted for 83 percent of PetroChina's operating income in the first half last year.

"I think he's referring to strong oil and gas production growth in the first two months," said Neil Beveridge, an analyst at Sanford C. Bern-stein & Co in Hong Kong. "The company will also have benefitted from higher crude prices."