China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the country's leading oil producer, lost 36.2 billion yuan (5.4 billion U.S. dollars) in its oil refining and processing businesses last year, according to a company report released on Thursday.

The company attributed the loss to the huge gaps in soaring world oil prices, the low state-set domestic price and its "overloaded operation" to ensure domestic supply.

Despite the surging prices in the international market, China last year ordered the country's oil producers and refiners to collect their strengths in combating the shortages caused by extreme weather conditions.

In 2007, the CNPC devoted about 100 billion yuan to oil prospecting and another 32.2 billion yuan in oil refining projects in a bid to ensure domestic supply.

Also last year, CNPC processed 120 million tons of crude oil, representing an increase of 5.86 million tons over the previous year.

It produced 107.65 million tons of crude oil and 54.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas at home, representing an increase of 1.01 million tons and 10 cubic meters, respectively.

It saw its oil and gas production overseas increase by 10.2 percent and 7 percent, respectively.

CNPC is the nation's second-largest refiner behind China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., also known as Sinopec.

PetroChina, CNPC's listed unit, saw its net profit at 145.63 billion yuan, up 2.4 percent from a year ago, but still missing the previous analysts estimate of more than 150 billion yuan.

(Xinhua News Agency March 21, 2008)