PetroChina, the internationally listed arm of China's top oil producer, witnessed record high output last year and vows to invest more in exploration and production this year.

 

The Hong Kong- and New York-listed company said in a public statement yesterday that its production of oil and gas hit a record high of 1.062 billion barrels of oil in 2006, up 5.2 percent year-on-year.

 

Crude oil output in 2006 rose 6.8 million barrels over 2005 to 829 million barrels, setting another record.

 

"All of our production and refining statistics from last year are better than what we expected," Zhang Anping, a press officer for PetroChina, told China Daily yesterday. "We are quite satisfied with these results, in terms of production and refining output."

 

PetroChina's output accounts for the bulk of production for its parent company, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). Zhang also implied that PetroChina's budget for investment this year might be higher than last year's.

 

Jiang Jiemin, president of CNPC and PetroChina, said early this month that in order to secure local oil and gas supplies, PetroChina will pour as much as 250 billion yuan into exploration and production in China this year. PetroChina's investment for domestic oil and gas production hit 200 billion yuan last year, according to Jiang.

 

Beside strengthened local efforts, CNPC's investment for overseas energy production will also be increased. By 2010, the company is determined to increase its overseas production to 800 million tons of oil, said Han Xuegong, a veteran consultant for CNPC.

 

Yesterday China Business News reported that CNPC was close to a US$3.6 billion natural gas co-development deal with a Norwegian counterpart in Iran, involving gas exploration and liquefaction.

 

Han confirmed that there are negotiations underway, but did not provide details.

 

Xiao Desheng, deputy general manager of PetroChina's Dalian Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project, confirmed that his company was in talks with LNG suppliers in Australia, Iran and Qatar to feed its proposed terminal in Dalian. He did not say whether the project in Iran would take the priority or not.

 

Output of PetroChina's marketable natural gas surged by 23.5 percent year-on-year to hit 1,382.4 billion cubic feet last year. The firm processed 785 million barrels of crude oil last year, with a 4.3 percent year-on-year increase. It also produced 2.068 million tons of ethylene and 3.06 million tons of synthetic resin in 2006, up 9.5 percent and 11 percent respectively.

 

(China Daily January 16, 2007)