BEIJING: PetroChina Company Limited said Thursday its net profit for 2009 dropped 9.7 percent from a year ago, due to a slump of crude oil prices.
But the company said the result was "better than expected" in a statement to the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock markets.
Net profit totaled 103.39 billion yuan ($15.2 billion) while earnings per share was 0.56 yuan, down by 0.07 yuan, according to the statement.