PetroChina reported its strongest-ever first-half results, with profit attributable to shareholders climbing 22% year over year to RMB103.94 billion ($14.6 billion), crossing the RMB100-billion threshold for the first time in a half-year period.
Revenue rose 5.3% to RMB1.527 trillion, while basic earnings per share reached RMB0.57, according to the Chinese energy giant's interim results released Sunday.
The upstream business remained the company's main earnings engine. PetroChina produced 921 million barrels of oil equivalent during the first six months of 2026, with both total oil and gas output and domestic natural gas production reaching record first-half levels.
Domestic crude production totaled 393 million barrels, while marketable natural gas output reached 2.66 trillion cubic feet. The oil, gas and new energies segment generated RMB100.45 billion in operating profit.
PetroChina also highlighted progress in expanding its resource base, reporting six new discoveries and 19 new developments. The company established two large gas reserve areas in the Sichuan and Junggar basins and advanced a major deep conventional oil reserve area at Tarim Fuman.
Growth outside the company's traditional upstream operations was particularly strong in new materials. Production surged 61.4% to 2.69 million tons, extending a five-year period in which annual growth has remained around 50%. PetroChina processed 655 million barrels of crude and produced 54.35 million tons of refined products, while its refining, chemicals and new materials division earned RMB14.53 billion in operating profit.
The results underscore PetroChina's effort to broaden its earnings base beyond crude oil and conventional fuels. The company brought its 1.2-million-ton-per-year Phase II ethylene project at Tarim into operation and is advancing projects in high-end polyolefins, carbon fiber, polyolefin elastomers and bio-based fuels.
Its lower-carbon businesses also continued to scale. Wind and solar generation increased 37.3% to 5.07 billion kWh, while carbon capture projects injected 1.37 million tons of CO2, up 14.2% from a year earlier.
PetroChina is simultaneously expanding its presence in vehicle electrification and natural gas transport. It added 592 integrated energy stations, commissioned 208 LNG refueling stations and installed 18,500 charging points during the half. Vehicle LNG retail volumes jumped 78.7%, while charging volumes increased 150%.
Natural gas sales, including LNG, rose 3.9% to 161.22 billion cubic meters, helping the gas marketing business generate RMB24.09 billion in operating profit.
For the second half of 2026, PetroChina said it will maintain a profitability-focused approach while accelerating development of oil and gas resources, new energy, new materials and environmental businesses.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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