PetroChina could earn more than $3 billion in trading profit in 2026 — OilPrice

In China, the trading division of state-owned PetroChina — PetroChina International (PCI) — could earn more than $3 billion, or 20 billion yuan, in gross trading profit in 2026. As OilPrice reports, anonymous trading sources told Reuters this.

Outlook for PetroChina International

According to Reuters sources, this result could become a record for PCI. PetroChina and other major oil and gas companies do not disclose trading profit figures separately. At the same time, they said that the crisis around the Strait of Hormuz and price swings this year brought exceptional revenues to divisions trading oil, petroleum products and liquefied natural gas.

PetroChina has a large portfolio of upstream assets and refining operations outside China which, according to OilPrice, are generating record-high margins. High price volatility and arbitrage opportunities also supported oil and LNG trading.

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Performance of energy sector companies

For the first half of the year, PetroChina reported record profit attributable to shareholders. It rose 22% year-on-year to $15.5 billion, or 103.94 billion yuan.

European oil and gas companies also reported substantial trading revenues in the second quarter and expect strong results in the third. TotalEnergies forecasts strong third-quarter results amid rising refining margins and LNG prices. Shell said its indicative refining margin in the third quarter could rise to $42 per barrel, compared with $24 in the second quarter. Equinor expects unusually high European refining margins and optimization of third-party LNG trading to lift the profit of its marketing, midstream and processing division above the $400 million guidance.