PetroChina Achieves a Strong Start for "the 15th Five-Year Plan" Interim Operating Results for the First Half of 2026 Hit New Record Highs
PetroChina announced record-high operating results for the first half of 2026, with revenue reaching RMB 1,527.49 billion, a 5.3% year-on-year increase. Profit attributable to owners of the company exceeded RMB 100 billion for the first time in a half-year period, totaling RMB 103.94 billion, up 22.0% from the previous year. The company strengthened its oil and gas supply capabilities, achieving 6 new discoveries and cultivating two hundred-billion-cubic-meter-level large-scale reserve areas in Sichuan Basin and Junggar Basin. PetroChina also accelerated its new energy business, generating 5.07 billion kWh of wind and solar power, a 37.3% increase year-on-year, and advanced carbon capture, utilization, and storage efforts by injecting 1.37 million tons of CO2. The Tarim 1.2 million tons per year phase II ethylene project was completed, marking China's first whole-chain green and low-carbon ethylene project.
PetroChina’s strong financial performance in the first half of 2026, with profit exceeding RMB 100 billion, reflects the company’s ability to navigate volatile oil and gas markets while pushing its green transition. The 37.3% year-on-year increase in wind and solar power generation to 5.07 billion kWh shows a tangible shift towards new energy sources, which is critical for China's broader decarbonization goals. The completion of the Tarim ethylene project, touted as China's first whole-chain green and low-carbon ethylene project, is a concrete step in this direction, demonstrating industrial-scale application of cleaner technologies. However, the core of PetroChina's business remains fossil fuels, with oil and gas equivalent output reaching 921 million barrels. While new energy is growing, the scale of traditional operations means that the transition will be a long-term endeavor. The challenge for PetroChina, and for Asia's energy sector more broadly, is to balance continued energy security through conventional resources with aggressive investment in sustainable alternatives. The 14.2% increase in CO2 injection for carbon capture is a positive, but its overall impact relative to total emissions from 921 million barrels of oil and gas equivalent needs careful monitoring.
