PetroChina Company Limited reported Monday that its net profit in the first quarter slid 35.3 percent year on year, pulled down by the low price of crude oil and less demand.

Net profit totaled 18.956 billion yuan (2.78 billion U.S. dollars) as calculated by international accounting rules. Earnings per share in the first quarter fell by 0.06 yuan per share to 0.1 yuan, the company said in a statement late Monday to the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock markets.

The performance was better than expected as it had been trying to control costs, optimize capital expenditure and ensure stable production and operations facing lower crude prices and decreased domestic demand, said the report.

In the first quarter, PetroChina's business revenue reached 181.6 billion yuan, down 30 percent from a year earlier.

The company processed 185 million barrels of crude oil in the first quarter, down 14.6 percent from a year ago.

The combined output of the company's gasoline, diesel and kerosene dropped 13.5 percent to 16. 4 million tonnes.

Wang Jing, an analyst with Orient Securities, said crude oil prices and domestic demand would be key factors in PetroChina's performance in 2009.

The government launched the new pricing mechanism for refined products in 2009, which ensures profits of oil refiners, so rising crude oil prices and market demand would contribute to oil company profits, she said.

PetroChina is the Hong Kong and Shanghai-listed subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation, China's largest oil producer.

Share prices of the company in the mainland A-share market rose1.21 percent to 11.72 yuan on Monday, while the price in the Hong Kong market dropped by 2.496 percent to 6.64 Hong Kong dollars (86U.S. cents).

(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2009)