PetroChina net profit surges on oil rally

China National Petroleum Corp, or PetroChina, the country's largest oil producer, said its production and operations remained stable in 2017 with profits almost triple the previous year as earnings from exploration and production overcame asset write-downs.

Boosted by rises in the prices of crude oil, natural gas and refined products, the company's net profit for 2017 increased by 190.2 percent to 22.79 billion yuan ($3.6 billion) from 7.85 billion yuan in 2016.

Revenue grew by 24.7 percent to 2.01 trillion yuan, the Beijing-based company said in a statement to the Hong Kong bourse on Thursday.