PetroChina International's Trading Profit Expected to Hit Record High, Exceeding 20 Billion Yuan for the Full Year
nashnova research
PetroChina International (PCI), the trading arm of China's largest oil company, is on track for a record gross profit exceeding RMB 20 billion (~$3 billion) this year — a direct beneficiary of the Iran war reshaping global oil flows, thanks to its unusually low exposure to the Strait of Hormuz.
How big is RMB 20 billion in context?
By early October, PCI's crude desk alone had already more than doubled its full-year 2025 earnings. Gas and refined-product desks are also running strong.
PetroChina's group-wide net profit for the first half was roughly $14.65 billion, but the company never breaks out trading profit separately. This means → if PCI hits the RMB 20 billion mark, it will be the first real window into the sheer scale of its trading operation.
The figures come from five trading executives speaking on condition of anonymity. PetroChina declined to comment.
Why is PetroChina gaining while others are hurting?
One number tells the story: the Strait of Hormuz accounts for only ~10% of PetroChina's crude and gas supply needs, according to chairman Dai Houliang. In plain terms = the Iran war choked the main Middle Eastern export chokepoint, but PetroChina's supply chain barely runs through it.
By contrast, Sinopec — the world's largest refiner — sources roughly half its crude from the Middle East, taking the disruption head-on.
This reflects how two state-owned energy giants, facing the same war, end up on opposite sides of the ledger because of exposure structure alone.
Where exactly is the money coming from?
Physical arbitrage is the main driver. Middle Eastern producers (ex-Iran) are slashing export prices to offset soaring freight costs. Saudi Aramco cut its official selling price to Asian buyers to a six-year low; Iraq's SOMO widened its port-loading discount to over $30 per barrel.
PetroChina is Iraq's largest foreign equity producer, giving it direct access to these discounts. This means → the closer a trader sits to the wellhead, the more cheap barrels it captures and the wider the arbitrage spread.
Cross-regional arbitrage — moving cargoes from low-price regions to high-price ones — has also contributed.
Why are the overseas refineries also printing money?
The Iran war layered on top of the Russia-Ukraine war has tightened the global refined-products market, pushing refinery margins sharply higher.
PetroChina holds 50% stakes in two refineries: Lavéra in France (210,000 bpd) and a Singapore plant (285,000 bpd). Both are posting rich margins.
In plain terms = crude is bought cheap and refined products are sold dear — the spread between the two is the refinery's windfall.
European peers are cashing in too — what does that tell us?
BP said this week that third-quarter gas marketing and trading results will materially beat the prior quarter; oil trading profit is roughly flat versus Q2, making it another strong year overall.
TotalEnergies likewise flagged oil and gas trading as the engine of this quarter's earnings.
This reflects a sector-wide pattern, not a one-company story. The Iran war has structurally reshuffled global oil and gas trade flows, and top-tier trading houses are collectively reaping the gains. PCI's record profit is the clearest gauge yet of how much China's state energy companies have benefited from that reshuffle.
市场有风险，内容仅供研究参考，不构成投资建议。