PetroChina profit plunges 78 percent to record low

State-owned Chinese energy giant PetroChina on Thursday announced it slumped to a record-low profit for 2016 as global oil price weakness slashed earnings by 78 percent. Net profit fell to 7.86 billion yuan ($1.1 billion), the Beijing-based company said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange, where it lists shares.
Bloomberg News reported that the profit figure was a record-low for PetroChina, the country's biggest oil producer.
Citing a "complicated and severe domestic and international economic environment," PetroChina blamed the result on depressed prices of crude oil and natural gas and a "severe" oversupply of refined products due to slower demand as China's economic growth moderates.