The decline in international oil prices is the main factor affecting the performance of Three Barrel Oil. However, due to the different business structures of each company, the factors affecting performance are also different.

International oil prices fluctuated and declined as a whole. In the first half of the year, the average spot price of Brent crude oil was US$71.87/barrel, a year-on-year decrease of 14.5%; the average spot price of U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude oil was US$67.60/barrel, a year-on-year decrease of 14.4%. The average selling prices of crude oil of PetroChina, Sinopec and CNOOC fell by 14.5%, 12.9% and 13.9% respectively year-on-year, resulting in varying degrees of decline in the oil and gas-related business income of the three companies.

2.Market supply and demand factors

Three barrels of oil have advanced to increase reserves and production, and oil and gas equivalents have maintained a growth trend, which has resisted the impact of falling oil prices on performance to a certain extent. Affected by the popularity of new energy vehicles and improvements in public transportation, domestic demand for refined oil products has declined. PetroChina's sales of refined oil products increased slightly and performed relatively well; Sinopec's domestic sales of refined oil products declined, and key products such as gasoline and diesel "fell in both volume and price."

3.Chemical business factors

In the first half of the year, new production capacity in the domestic chemical industry was released, product prices fell, Sinopec's operating profits dropped significantly by %, and Sinopec's chemical business suffered huge losses.

4.Business structure factors

CNOOC’s business is focused on upstream oil and gas exploration and production. Its revenue scale is relatively small but its net profit is high, and it is highly correlated with international oil price fluctuations. PetroChina and Sinopec are "upstream and downstream integrated" companies. In addition to the upstream being affected by oil prices, the downstream refining and chemical business is also under pressure, and their performance is more closely related to the cyclical development of domestic petrochemical products.

5.Financial structural factors

CNOOC’s capital-liability ratio is 29.5%, and its financial structure is sound. PetroChina's capital-liability ratio is 38.5%. Sinopec's asset-liability ratio is 54.1%, 0.93 percentage points higher than before. Short-term debt and other indicators have increased. Debt pressure is relatively high, which has a certain impact on performance.

The revenue and net profit attributable to parent companies of PetroChina, Sinopec, and CNOOC all showed a year-on-year decline, but due to differences in business structure and other factors.

1.Operating income

China Petroleum’s revenue was 1.45 trillion yuan, down 6.7% year-on-year; Sinopec’s revenue was 1.41 trillion yuan, down 10.6% year-on-year; CNOOC’s revenue was 207.608 billion yuan, down 8% year-on-year. In terms of revenue scale, PetroChina leads the way, while CNOOC is relatively small.

2.Net profit attributable to parent company

PetroChina’s net profit attributable to its parent company was 84.007 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5.4%; CNOOC’s net profit attributable to its parent company was 69.533 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 13%; Sinopec’s net profit attributable to its parent company was 21.483 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 39.8%. PetroChina has the highest net profit, and Sinopec has the largest decline in net profit.

All three barrels of oil have positive cash flow from operating activities. PetroChina has the largest operating net cash flow, followed by CNOOC. Sinopec is relatively small. However, PetroChina and Sinopec have achieved year-on-year cash flow growth, while CNOOC has declined.

The net cash flow generated by PetroChina’s operating activities was 227.063 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.0%, an increase of 8.644 billion yuan compared with the same period last year; cash flow from sales of goods and provision of labor services was 1.49847 billion yuan; free cash flow was 112.28 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.5%, setting the best level in the same period in history; as of June 30, 2025, operating cash flow per share was 1.2406 yuan.

The net cash flow generated by Sinopec’s operating activities was 61.016 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 44.4%, mainly due to the decrease in net occupation of working capital such as inventories, reaching the best level in the same period in recent years, mainly due to inventories, etc. The net occupation of working capital decreased; the cash flow received from selling goods and providing services was 1,607.049 billion yuan; the cash content of net profit averaged 265.03%, and the company's cash flow was sufficient; the free cash flow to revenue ratio averaged 0.85%, and the company's cash flow was excellent.

CNOOC’s net cash inflow from operating activities was 109.182 billion yuan, a decrease of 9.372 billion yuan from the same period last year, a year-on-year decrease of 7.91%, mainly due to the decline in oil and gas sales cash inflow caused by the decline in international oil prices; net cash flow was 12.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase 35% growth; cash received from selling goods and providing services was 211.154 billion yuan; the cash content of net profit averaged 170.01%, and the company's cash flow was excellent; free cash flow accounted for an average of 19.80% of revenue, and the cash flow situation was good, which helps support its business development and dividend arrangements.

There are certain differences between PetroChina, Sinopec and CNOOC in terms of assets and liabilities. CNOOC’s financial structure is relatively more stable, followed by PetroChina, and Sinopec’s debt pressure is relatively high.

1.Asset

China Petroleum has the largest asset scale, with total assets reaching 2,849.632 billion yuan as of June 30, 2025; Sinopec is second, with total assets of 1,246.645 billion yuan; CNOOC has not released specific total asset data, but judging from past conditions and business scale, its asset scale is smaller than the former two.

2.Liabilities

PetroChina’s total liabilities are 1.09649 billion yuan, and Sinopec’s total liabilities are 720.241 billion yuan. CNOOC has not released total liability data, but it is inferred from the asset-liability ratio and other conditions that the liability scale is relatively small.

3.Asset-liability ratio

CNOOC has the lowest asset-liability ratio at 29.5%; PetroChina has the highest asset-liability ratio at 38.5%; Sinopec has the highest asset-liability ratio at 54.1%, which increased by 0.93 percentage points from the same period last year. Short-term debt, long-term debt and non-current liabilities due within one year have all increased to varying degrees, and debt pressure is relatively high.

PetroChina, Sinopec and CNOOC have all reduced oil and gas costs through cost control and other measures, with CNOOC having the lowest cost.

PetroChina adheres to the low-cost development strategy, and the unit oil and gas operating cost dropped to US$10.14/barrel, a decrease of 8.1% compared with US$11.03/barrel in the same period last year. Cost control and production growth work together to partially offset the adverse effects of falling international oil prices; Sinopec's oil and gas cash operating costs were 718.0 yuan/ton, a year-on-year decrease of 4.7%. Cost reduction and production growth jointly reflect the results of the company's upstream increase in reserves and production, cost reduction and efficiency improvement; CNOOC's main cost per barrel of oil has stabilized at US$26.94/barrel of oil equivalent, slightly lower than the same period last year. The cost advantage is obvious, and it continues to lead the industry, laying a solid foundation for the company to maintain profit margins. Among them, the operating expenses for a barrel of oil were US$6.76/barrel, a year-on-year decrease of 0.7%; the depreciation, depletion and amortization of a barrel of oil were US$13.89/barrel, a year-on-year decrease of 0.4%; the disposal fee of a barrel of oil was US$0.73/barrel, a year-on-year decrease of 15.1%; the sales and management expenses of a barrel of oil were US$1.91/barrel, a year-on-year decrease of 6.4%.

Three barrels of oil were promoted to increase reserves and production, achieving year-on-year growth in oil and gas production. PetroChina and Sinopec have disclosed more data on refining and chemical production, while CNOOC has not released detailed refining and chemical production-related data.

China Petroleum’s oil and gas equivalent production reached 942 million barrels, a year-on-year increase of 2%. Among them, natural gas output was 2.72 trillion cubic feet (approximately 77.022 billion cubic meters), a year-on-year increase of 4.2%. Domestic oil and gas equivalent production hit a record high for the same period in history; crude oil processing volume reached 690 million barrels, a year-on-year increase of 0.1%, which was stable. increased; the output of refined oil was 59.572 million tons; the volume of chemical products was 19.971 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 4.9%; the production of new materials was 1.665 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 54.9%, maintaining a rapid growth of more than 50% for three consecutive years.

Sinopec achieved oil and gas equivalent production of 262.81 million barrels, a year-on-year increase of 2%. Among them, natural gas output was 736.28 billion cubic feet (approximately 20.849 billion cubic meters), a year-on-year increase of 5.1%; crude oil processing volume was 120 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 5.3%; 71.4 million tons of refined oil were produced, although the output was higher than that of PetroChina , but due to factors such as market demand, its refined oil production has shown an overall downward trend; it has produced 22.06 million tons of chemical light oil, a year-on-year increase of 11.5%, ethylene production has been 7.563 million tons, and its total chemical product operations have been 40.08 million tons, achieving full production and full sales.

CNOOC’s net oil and gas production reached 384.6 million barrels of oil equivalent, a year-on-year increase of 6.1%, setting a new high for the same period in history. Among them, domestic net oil and gas production was 266.5 million barrels of oil equivalent, a year-on-year increase of 7.6%; overseas net oil and gas production was 118.1 million barrels of oil equivalent, a year-on-year increase of 2.8%.

Affected by the decline in international oil prices and the decline in domestic demand for refined oil, the three-barrel oil sales business is facing certain pressures, but there are differences in terms of refined oil sales volume and sales revenue.

1.Refined oil sales

China Petroleum’s domestic sales of refined oil increased against the trend. Domestic sales of gasoline, kerosene, and diesel were 58.646 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 0.3%. Sales of kerosene and diesel increased by 3.8% and 2.9% respectively, and the market share of refined oil increased by 1.5 percentage points. Sinopec’s sales of refined oil were 87.05 million tons, a decrease of 3.4% year-on-year. Both gasoline and diesel sales declined to varying degrees.

2.Non-oil business sales

China Petroleum’s vehicle LNG refueling volume increased by 59% year-on-year, charging and swapping capacity increased by 213% year-on-year, and non-oil business profits increased by 5.5%; Sinopec accelerated the development of gas refueling and charging and swapping networks, vehicle LNG operation volume and charging volume increased significantly year-on-year, LNG retail market share ranked first in the country, and non-oil business profits were 3.09 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.0%.

PetroChina, Sinopec and CNOOC are all actively deploying in the new energy business field, but their business focus and development results are different.

China Petroleum’s new energy business development is relatively diversified, and progress has been made in wind and solar power generation, geothermal power, CCUS and other aspects. The newly obtained wind and solar power generation indicator is 16.38 million kilowatts, and the wind and solar power generation capacity is 3.69 billion kilowatt hours, a year-on-year increase of 70%. The newly signed geothermal heating contract covers an area of ​​55.42 million square meters. The entire industry chain coordinated to promote the carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) business, capturing and utilizing 1.305 million tons of carbon dioxide, and achieving 300,000 tons of oil displacement.

Sinopec focuses on transforming into a comprehensive energy service provider of "oil, gas, hydrogen and electricity services", focusing on hydrogen energy, solar energy, wind energy, geothermal and other businesses. It has built 11 hydrogen fuel cell hydrogen supply centers, 144 hydrogenation stations, and built 7 "hydrogen corridors". It is the company that operates the most hydrogenation stations in the world. At the same time, the construction of gas refilling and charging and replacing networks was accelerated, and the charging business service fee was 500 million yuan, a significant increase year-on-year.

CNOOC focuses on energy substitution and expands the use of green electricity, consuming more than 500 million kilowatt hours of green electricity and achieving power savings of approximately 18 million kilowatt hours. In addition, it has made major breakthroughs in seawater hydrogen production technology. The world's first megawatt-scale electrolytic seawater hydrogen production device and 100-kilowatt-level high-efficiency system developed by it have been successfully launched, providing a new direction for the development of new offshore energy.

Attachment: Original link

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