PetroChina, the nation's largest oil producer, yesterday said its oil and gas production has marginally increased in the first half, shrugging off the impact of the SARS epidemic.

The company said in a statement that its total output of oil and gas in the period rose 2.1 per cent year-on-year to 444.7 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE).

The result is in line with market expectations which saw PetroChina's shares on Hong Kong's stock market up 1.1 per cent yesterday.

The company said its crude oil output inched 0.6 per cent from the previous year to 386.4 million barrels, while output of marketable natural gas grew by 13.5 per cent to 13 billion cubic metres.

"We have seen steady growth in its production and operation," the statement said.

But the production of ageing Daqing Oilfield in Northeast China, PetroChina's largest, slid by 4.1 per cent year-on-year. The company said the production decline, the result of decades of development, is under control. The shortfall, meanwhile, had been offset by output increase in fields in western China and overseas.

In the first half, PetroChina's average sales price for crude surged nearly 40 per cent year-on year to US$28.10 a barrel. The price, however, was down from US$29.3 per-barrel in the first quarter, as international oil prices ebbed during April and May from the hike during the Iraq War.

The company processed 297.1 million barrels of crude in the first half, an increase of 6.1 per cent as compared with last year. The production of refined oil products, such as diesel and petrol, rose roughly 10 per cent.

The company said the sales of refined oil products were strong and June sales hit a record high, it said.

The selling prices for diesel, petrol and kerosene rose between 28.8 per cent and 32.3 per cent year-on-year in the first half.

But the SARS outbreak did leave its mark on PetroChina with the output of kerosene - which also includes jet fuel - falling. Kerosene production in the second quarter fell more than 34 per cent, compared with the same quarter last year, to 362,000 tons.

Airlines slashed flights as travellers cancelled their trips because of SARS.

PetroChina said its chemicals and marketing segment, which has been mired in losses in the past, has improved greatly over time.

Ethylene production rose 17.6 per cent to 869,000 tons.

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