PetroChina First-Half Profit Jumps 22% to Record High

PetroChina First-Half Profit Jumps 22% to Record High

Charles Kennedy

Mon, August 31, 2026 at 4:16 AM GMT+3 3 min read

PetroChina reported record first-half operating results for 2026, with profit attributable to shareholders rising 22% year over year to RMB103.94 billion as the Chinese energy giant expanded across natural gas, new materials and lower-carbon businesses.

Revenue increased 5.3% to RMB1.527 trillion, while basic earnings per share reached RMB0.57. PetroChina said it was the first time its attributable profit had exceeded RMB100 billion in a half-year period.

The company's oil, gas and new energies business remained its biggest earnings contributor, generating RMB100.45 billion in operating profit during the first half.

PetroChina reported oil and gas equivalent production of 921 million barrels, domestic crude production of 393 million barrels and marketable natural gas production of 2.66 trillion cubic feet.

The company said it made six new discoveries and advanced 19 new developments during the period. It also established two large gas reserve areas in the Sichuan and Junggar basins and a major deep conventional oil reserve area at Tarim Fuman.

PetroChina continued developing unconventional resources, including shale oil and shale gas projects at Daqing Gulong, Xinjiang Mabei Fengcheng and western Chongqing, while expanding deep coalbed methane production.

The company's strategy also reflects a broader shift taking place in China's energy market. Rapid electric-vehicle adoption and growing use of natural gas in trucking have put pressure on conventional road-fuel demand, while petrochemicals are becoming increasingly important to Chinese oil consumption. The International Energy Agency has said China's gasoline and diesel demand was virtually unchanged in 2025, with EVs and natural gas-fueled trucks helping curb transport fuel use.

PetroChina is responding by expanding both its chemicals operations and alternatives to conventional transport fuels.

New materials production jumped 61.4% to 2.69 million tons during the first half, maintaining growth of around 50% for a fifth consecutive year. Chemical commodity production increased 6.7% to 21.32 million tons, while the refining, chemicals and new materials business generated RMB14.53 billion in operating profit.

PetroChina processed 655 million barrels of crude and produced 54.35 million tons of refined products. The company also completed and commissioned its 1.2-million-ton-per-year Phase II ethylene project at Tarim and advanced investments in high-end polyolefins, carbon fiber, polyolefin elastomers and bio-based products.

That expansion is consistent with a broader industry trend toward petrochemicals as a more important source of future oil demand. The IEA expects petrochemicals to become the dominant source of global oil-demand growth from 2026 onward, with China among the countries leading the expansion of petrochemical capacity.

PetroChina is also expanding its presence in vehicle LNG and electric charging. During the first half, the company added 592 integrated energy stations, brought 208 LNG refueling stations online and installed 18,500 charging points. Vehicle LNG retail volumes increased 78.7%, while charging volumes rose 150%.

The marketing business generated RMB11.36 billion in operating profit.

Natural gas sales, including LNG, rose 3.9% to 161.22 billion cubic meters, including 124.89 billion cubic meters sold domestically. The natural gas marketing business recorded RMB24.09 billion in operating profit.

PetroChina's lower-carbon operations also continued to expand. Wind and solar generation rose 37.3% to 5.07 billion kWh, while CO2 injected through carbon capture, utilization and storage projects increased 14.2% to 1.37 million tons.

For the second half, PetroChina said it would continue prioritizing profitability while investing in oil and gas resources, new energy, new materials and environmental businesses.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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