Chinese NOCs see upstream gains and downstream losses
China’s state-owned oil companies have succeeded in raising domestic oil and gas production, but their refining businesses are being squeezed
China’s three NOCs continued to grow their E&P businesses strongly in H1 2024, but there were signs of weakness in downstream operations due to softer-than-expected fuel sales resulting from challenging economic conditions and greater use of cleaner transport. China’s central government has pushed its state-controlled oil and gas giants—PetroChina, Sinopec and CNOOC to invest heavily in production to help the nation meet energy security goals amid rising geopolitical tensions. The firms were responsible for 93% of domestic oil output in H1, and their focus on this combined with higher international oil prices drove their combined net profit for the period 10.3% higher than a year ago, to

Also in this section
30 April 2025
With a new board appointed to lead NNPC and moves by President Tinubu to exert control in the Delta region, there is renewed hope the country will be able to turn the corner and rebuild production to former peaks
30 April 2025
While economic weakness and the electric vehicles trend have hit oil demand growth, petrochemicals and jet fuel show more nuanced changes across the barrel
30 April 2025
The company will use methane-rich gas produced from local coal to temporarily replace lost supplies from Mozambique
28 April 2025
Rewards offered by investment in the sector must be balanced by its energy consumption amid an increasingly gas-hungry domestic market