Gas price rise lifts PetroChina’s prospects

摘要

Chinese state-controlled energy firm Pet-roChina’s financial outlook has taken a turn for the better with Beijing raising non-residential natural gas prices last month. But the latest adjustment will mainly offset losses from imported piped gas sales, leaving the company still facing huge risks from LNG imports. PetroChina, which supplies two-thirds of Chinese gas demand, expects strong consumption growth to help offset some of the impact on industrial demand of a 15pc rise in the average city-gate gas price to 1.95 yuan/m3 ($8.81/mn Btu) for non-residential users (WPA, 5 July, p5). The firm’s average city-gate gas price rose by just 5pc to Yn1.50/m3 last year. It expects the latest price rise to boost its 2013 operating profit byYn10bn ($1.6bn).