Petrochina will bear the brunt of Beijing’s call for additional gas supply
Petrochina squeezed between markets and regulated prices
China’s energy supply crunch is contributing to mounting losses at the state-controlled firm
An official call on China’s gas importers to boost inflows ahead of winter will put pressure on earnings at state-controlled Petrochina, as the top Chinese gas buyer will need to import more fuel at a loss to meet Beijing’s demand for steady energy supplies in the cold season. Import costs are often higher than the state-regulated domestic gas prices set by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planner. Petrochina lost RMB14.2bn ($2.2bn) on the domestic resale of imported gas last year, which was still a significant improvement from losses of RMB30.7bn in 2019 and RMB24.9bn in 2018. The NOC continued to turn the situation around in the first quarter of t
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