PetroChina to Pay Interim Dividend, Though Earnings Dived

SHANGHAI, Aug 29, 2008 (SinoCast via COMTEX) -- PTR | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- China's biggest oil and gas producer PetroChina Co., Ltd. (SHSE: 601857 and NYSE: PTR | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) announces a high interim dividend distribution plan although its earnings plunged more than 30%.

In the first half of 2008, the company gained operating revenue of CNY 549.522 billion, up 39.9% year over year, but net profits tumbled 34.5% to CNY 53.615 billion. The earnings per share (EPS) hit CNY 0.29 while the board of directors decided to pay the interim dividend as 45% of EPS, or CNY 0.132 to all shareholders.

Notably, PetroChina produced oil and gas of 588 million barrels of oil equivalent in H1 2008, up 6.5%, and its average crude oil selling price was USD 93.45 per barrel, about USD 35 higher than a year ago.

The surging revenue had not brought increasing earnings, just because the rising special oil gain levy charged by the government and capped domestic refined oil prices hurt the company heavily, Zhou Jiping, president of PetroChina said.

From www.cnstock.com, Page 1, Thursday, August 28, 2008 info@SinoCast.Com

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