China's top three oil giants paid 16 billion yuan (US$2 billion) to the government from oil sales revenues in the first half of the year.

 

At the end of March, China imposed a special levy on income derived from the sale of locally produced crude oil at a price exceeding US$40 per barrel.

 

According to interim reports released by the three largest state-owned oil companies, PetroChina Company Limited (PetroChina), paid a special oil income levy of 10.3 billion yuan, China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) paid 3.7 billion yuan and China National Offshore Oil Company Limited (CNOOC Ltd.), nearly 2 billion yuan.

 

According to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the levy has been introduced to balance the huge profits of oil producers achieved through the soaring oil prices.

 

PetroChina reported a net profit of 80.68 billion yuan in the first six months, up 29.4 percent from the same period of last year. Sinopec's net profits rose by 14.6 percent to 20.7 billion yuan and CNOOC Ltd., up 37.6 percent to 16.28 billion yuan.

 

The reported average crude oil price of Sinopec is US$58.3 per barrel and that of CNOOC Ltd. is US$62.39 per barrel.

 

According to the Ministry of Finance, the money will be channeled into the central finance and counted as part of the cost of the enterprise.

 

PetroChina, China's largest oil producer, estimated that it will pay about 30 billion yuan in special levies for the whole year if international crude oil prices remain at US$60 per barrel and the estimates of Sinopec, China's top oil refiner, are nine to ten billion yuan.

 

China's crude oil price has been rising in keeping with the international price but the domestic price of processed oil products are being kept at a relatively low level by the government for the benefit of consumers.

 

Sinopec's refining sector reported losses of 16.6 billion yuan in the first half year, a huge leap up from 1.3 billion yuan of the same period of last year.

 

(Xinhua News Agency September 7, 2006)