HONG KONG, March 29, 2026, 18:23 HKT
PetroChina Co., Ltd. said 2025 net profit fell 4.5% as lower oil prices cut into earnings, with revenue down 2.5%, according to its annual results filed in Hong Kong on Sunday. 1
The result matters now because it shows PetroChina putting more money into long-life projects and leaning harder on gas just as China’s fuel mix keeps shifting and oil markets have turned jumpy again. The company plans 279.4 billion yuan of capital expenditure, or spending on long-term projects, in 2026, up from 269.1 billion yuan in 2025, while warning that geopolitics could still bring sharp price swings. 2
PetroChina’s numbers also add to a weak set of results from China’s state oil majors. CNOOC said this week that 2025 net earnings fell 11.5%, while Sinopec earlier reported a 36.8% drop; PetroChina looked steadier because profit gains in gas sales, refining and marketing softened the hit from weaker crude. 1
Its average realized crude price — the price it actually received for the oil it sold — fell 14.2% to $64.11 a barrel. Crude output edged up 0.7% to 948 million barrels, marketable gas output rose 4.5% to 5,363.2 billion cubic feet, and operating profit in the natural gas sales unit climbed 12.6% to 60.8 billion yuan. 2
Downstream trends were mixed and a bit awkward. Domestic gasoline sales fell 2.3%, while jet kerosene, the fuel used by airlines, jumped 18.3% as air travel recovered; crude processing slipped 0.2% after PetroChina permanently shut its biggest northeastern refinery in mid-2025 as Beijing capped total oil-processing capacity. 1
For 2026, PetroChina guided to slightly lower crude output at 941.3 million barrels but higher gas output at 5,470.5 billion cubic feet, while keeping crude processing broadly flat at 1.377 billion barrels. It also proposed a final cash dividend of 0.25 yuan a share, totaling about 45.8 billion yuan, subject to shareholder approval. 2
The risk is volatility. PetroChina said geopolitical factors could periodically hit supply and prices and trigger sharp swings; Brent has surged more than 50% since the latest Middle East conflict began this month. “As long as transit through the Strait of Hormuz is affected, all Asian countries will feel the pinch,” Suvro Sarkar, energy sector team lead at DBS Bank, said, while NORD/LB analyst Thomas Wybierek said higher transport costs and supply-chain strains were especially hard on the chemical sector. 1
PetroChina said China should still see natural gas demand grow in 2026 even as gasoline and diesel demand keeps weakening. That leaves the company leaning harder on gas, whose sales unit posted higher operating profit last year, as it heads into another year of heavy spending and unstable oil prices. 2
