BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- PetroChina, China's largest oil and gas producer, said Thursday its net profits surged over 130 percent last year due to higher global oil prices and strong natural gas demand domestically.
Net profits attributable to equity holders came in at 52.6 billion yuan (about 7.9 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, up 130.7 percent year on year, according to the company's financial results in line with international financial reporting standards.
Revenue rose 16.8 percent year on year to 2.35 trillion yuan, according to the results.
The company attributed the growth to factors including increased global oil prices, which were up by around 30 percent on average than the previous year.
Meanwhile, growing refined oil consumption and robust natural gas demand in China also helped the firm's earnings.
PetroChina produced 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent last year, up 2.3 percent from 2017. Of the total output, 13.7 percent came from overseas operations.
The company predicted continued growth in domestic oil and gas demand this year, noting that its business will benefit from the government's reforms of the oil and gas sector, a more transparent and law-based market environment and larger tax and fee cuts.
On Thursday, PetroChina share prices rose 0.64 percent in Shanghai and gained 0.19 percent in Hong Kong.
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