CNPC net income surges in 2021 on higher prices

The preliminary net income for China National Petroleum Corp is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan ($15.79 billion) in 2021 while the net profit attributable to shareholders of PetroChina Co Ltd, the listed unit of CNPC, is estimated to increase between 71 billion yuan and 75 billion yuan in 2021, up between 374 percent and 395 percent year-on-year as oil and gas prices surged.

Compared with the 19 billion yuan of net profit in 2020, the net profit of PetroChina is expected to reach 90 billion yuan to 94 billion yuan.

Together with its listed companies and unlisted business, CNPC, the country's largest oil and gas producer by annual output, have all made a profit last year, resulting in the more than 100 billion yuan of net profit for the company, Xinhua reported.

The company attributed the strong performance to favorable market opportunities, consistent innovation and green transition. An analyst said the strong performance can also be attributed to the recovery of oil prices and lower-than-expected import gas losses.

The company's oilfields have made a substantial contribution to China's oil supplies during the past few decades, said Luo Zuoxian, head of intelligence and research at the Sinopec Economics and Development Research Institute.

"China has made tremendous progress in increasing domestic oil and gas production in recent years with significant results in terms of domestic oil and gas exploration," he said. "The oilfields have been able to maintain steady oil and gas output thanks to the consistent technological innovation during the past few years."

PetroChina has been pushing forward high-quality development in 2021, stepping up oil and gas exploration and exploitation while enhancing its refining structure optimization and transformation.

The company's oil and gas equivalent output last year is expected to exceed 210 million metric tons, the third consecutive year of output growth. Natural gas output accounts for 51.4 percent of the oil and gas equivalent and is expected to exceed 100 million tons.

The company's Daqing oilfield achieved a steady annual output of 30 million tons while the Xinjiang oilfield crude output also exceeded 13.5 million tons last year.

The Changqing oilfield produced 25.36 million tons of crude last year, while it has also produced more than 46 billion cubic meters of natural gas, a record high.

It has been accelerating the exploration and exploitation of unconventional gas, while consistently working on new energy and a new materials business layout, the company said.

The country's major oil and gas players, including China Petroleum and Chemical Corp and China National Offshore Oil Corp, have all been stepping up oil and gas output in recent years to ensure energy security.

CNOOC said in January its crude output soared at the Bohai oilfield last year, producing more than 30 million tons of crude oil in 2021, contributing to half of the country's crude oil output increase last year.

China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, known as Sinopec, said earlier the cumulative output of the Sinopec Fuling shale gas field, the first large-scale commercial shale gas field in China, has exceeded 40 billion cubic meters of gas in October, a new record for cumulative production in the country.