Source: Wall Street Journal                            Date: 31 August, 2011

China's demand for oil will continue to grow despite higher oil prices and slow demand, predicted PetroChina. The company's profits in the first six months of this year rose just 1 percent. PetroChina has operation in Mongolia and China is Mongolia's biggest consumer of resources.

Uncertainty in the global economy will likely result in further destabilize oil prices.

The company plans to increase natural gas production from last year by 66 percent within the next four years to 120 billion cubic meters. Although crude oil and natural gas output rose to 5 percent, the company couldn't match the profits of its competitors, such as Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and Royal Dutch Shell that benefited from higher oil prices.

The company's refining business also reported a loss of CNY 23.36 billion compared to last year’s gains of CNY 5.46 billion because of government controls over its prices. However, analysts projected that the company will see improvement in this are in the second half of this year when crude oil prices fall. However, the Chinese government's control on prices will continue to be a burden, reported the source.