PetroChina, a holding company of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China's largest oil and gas producer, produced 829.7 million barrels of crude oil, the highest since the company's listing in 2000, and an increase of 6.8 million barrels,or 0.8 percent from the previous year.

PetroChina produced 1,382.4 billion cubic feet of marketable natural gas, a rise of 262.9 billion cubic feet, or 23.5 percent, from the previous year. The output growth of natural gas is based on the sharp rise of 27.2 percent in 2005.

PetroChina saw the average price rise of crude oil by 23.55 percent year-on-year to 59.76 U.S. dollars per barrel, giving a strong boost to the company's profits in the past year.

The company processed 785 million barrels of crude oil, up by 32.7 million barrels or 4.3 percent from 2005.

Gasoline output was 22.03 million tons, up 2.9 percent from 2005, diesel output rose by 2.9 percent to 44.22 million tons, andkerosene was up 4.8 percent to 2.06 million tons.

The commercial production of chemical products continued to rise, with production of ethylene reaching 2.07 million tons, up 9.5 percent, and synthetic resin 3.06 million tons, a rise of 11 percent over 2005.

PetroChina's gas stations around the country totaled 18,207, slightly up from the number of 18,164 in 2005.

PetroChina saw the Alashankou-Dushanzi pipeline across northwestern China going into operation in 2006, delivering crude oil imported via the China-Kazakhstan Pipeline to its Dushanzi Petrochemical Company.

PetroChina completed the acquisition of a 67-percent interest in PetroKazakhstan from its parent CNPC last week, which provided PetroChina with equity oil and gas reserves and production capacity in Kazakhstan.

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