PetroChina Company Limited announced Monday that its output of crude oil reached 419 million barrels in the first half of 2007, up 600,000 barrels, or 0.1 percent, from the same period last year.

The company produced 798 billion cubic feet of marketable natural gas in the first six months, a year-on-year growth of 113.3 billion cubic feet, or 16.5 percent.

Capturing favorable market opportunities, PetroChina saw its operational performance surpass its mid-year targets despite the occurrence of the most severe snowstorm and hurricanes for the past few decades, said the company in a news release on its website.

PetroChina processed 407 million barrels of crude oil in the first six months, up 15.1 million barrels, or 3.8 percent, as compared with the same period last year.

The company produced 10.67 million tons of gasoline, down 3.6 percent from a year earlier, and 23.889 million tons of diesel with a year-on-year growth of 7.5 percent.

The Company produced 1.305 million tons of ethylene in the first half year, up 30.1 percent, 158,000 tons of synthetic rubber, up 1.9 percent and 1.997 million tons of synthetic resin, up 31 percent.

The number of Petrochina's gas stations nationwide reached 18,630 by the end of June, representing an increase of 678 stations, or 3.78 percent, from a year ago.

PetroChina announced in May the discovery of the Jidong Nanpu Oilfield in east China's Bohai Bay, which contains oil reserves of up to one billion tons and its plan for a public offering of up to four billion A shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in June.

Listed in Hong Kong and New York, PetroChina Company Limited is the listing arm of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the largest oil producer of China.

(Xinhua News Agency July 16 2007)