PetroChina, the country's leading oil and gas producer, saw its net profits plunge by 94.3 percent year on year in the first three quarters of 2016 due to falling global oil prices, a company filing said Saturday.

Net profits attributable to shareholders were 1.73 billion yuan (256 million U.S. dollars) in the three quarters, according to a financial report PetroChina filed to the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges.

The results followed weak performance in the first half of the year, when net profits tumbled 97.9 percent year on year.

The company said it was affected by the slow recovery of the world economy, downward pressure in China and increased domestic competition.

In the first three quarters, plummeting international oil prices brought the average price of PetroChina's crude oil down to 35.79 dollars per barrel, a decline of 30 percent year on year, the company said.

During that period, the company's crude oil output fell 3.6 percent year on year, while output of marketable natural gas rose 6.1 percent. from the same period last year, according to the report.

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