PetroChina Saw Turnover Decrease for H1      

PetroChina Company Limited (HK: 0857, SH: 601857) achieved a turnover of RMB415 277 million under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in the first half of 2009, representing a decrease of 24.7% from the same period of 2008. Net profit was RMB50 501 million, down 7.2% year-on-year.
   The drop was primarily due to the decreases in selling prices of major products including crude oil, natural gas, gasoline and diesel, and a reduction in revenue from trading of oil products, PetroChina said.
   Refining and Chemicals business' turnover fell 20.8% year-on-year to RMB216 988 million from RMB274 022 million in H1 2008, driven by a decrease in prices and sales volume of key refined products. However the operating expenses decreased 40.2% to RMB199 796 million for H1 from RMB333 852 million in H1 2008 thanks to a decrease in the purchase costs of crude oil, feedstock oil and refined products from external suppliers. The profit for the Refining and Chemical business gained RMB17 192 million for the first six months, compared with a loss of RMB59 830 million for the same period of 2008.
   PetroChina's refineries processed 389 million barrels of crude oil, and the Exploration and Production segment contributed 79.6% of crude oil processed. And it produced approximately 34.55 million tons of gasoline, diesel and kerosene. Meanwhile, the company manufactured 1.3 million tons of ethylene, up 0.2%; 2.03 million tons of synthetic resins, down 0.3%; 678 thousand of synthetic fiber materials and polymer, down 22.8%; 191 thousand tons of synthetic rubber, up 21.7% and 2.05 million tons of urea, up 0.4%.