China's Three Oil Majors Post CNY 215.4 Billion Half-Year Profit, Lift Payouts to Records

PetroChina Co Ltd, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) reported combined attributable net profit of about CNY 215.4 billion for the first half of 2026, equal to roughly CNY 1.19 billion a day, with all three lifting shareholder distributions.

PetroChina crossed CNY 100 billion in half-year attributable profit for the first time, at CNY 103.936 billion, up 22.0% year on year. Revenue reached CNY 1,527.491 billion, a gain of 5.3%.

The payout structure is where the reset is clearest. PetroChina proposed a cash dividend of CNY 0.26 per share for the first half, tax included, and the board said the distribution does not require shareholder-meeting approval. With total share capital of 183.021 billion shares as of June 30, 2026, that works out to CNY 47.585 billion in total, of which CNY 42.1 billion goes to A shares.

CNOOC posted the fastest bottom-line growth of the three. Attributable net profit came in at CNY 85.8 billion, up 23.4%, on revenue of CNY 242.7 billion, up about 17%. The offshore producer proposed an interim dividend of HKD 0.94 per share, tax included, totalling about CNY 38.8 billion, described as a record for the period.

Realized pricing drove the offshore result. CNOOC achieved an oil price of USD 85.49 per barrel, up about 23.6%, and a gas price of CNY 2.03 per cubic metre, up 1.3%. Its main cost per barrel rose 10.2% to USD 29.7 per barrel of oil equivalent, leaving a wide gap between realization and unit cost.

That gap fed the cash line. Net cash from operating activities reached CNY 141.631 billion, up 29.7%, while the gearing ratio stood at 28.6%, down 0.9 percentage points from a year earlier. A balance sheet at that leverage level with cash generation of that size gives the dividend a durable base rather than a one-period stretch.

Sinopec, the refining-weighted member of the trio, grew earnings on a near-flat top line. Revenue rose 2% to CNY 1,436.561 billion, while attributable net profit climbed 19.30% to CNY 25.627 billion. The board set an interim dividend of CNY 0.105 per share with a cash payout ratio of 49.5%.

Volumes underpinned that mix. Sinopec produced 263.47 million barrels of oil equivalent, refined 113 million tonnes of crude and sold 100.99 million tonnes of refined products. Ethylene output reached 6.394 million tonnes, and chemical product exports rose 70% year on year.

Read against Western peer practice, the numbers matter for how income investors price state-controlled producers. A payout ratio near half of net profit at Sinopec, a first-time CNY 100 billion profit at PetroChina, and a record interim distribution at CNOOC put the three on distribution terms that compete for the same global yield-seeking capital as the listed international majors. The three sit at different points of the barrel: upstream-heavy at CNOOC, integrated at PetroChina, refining and petrochemicals at Sinopec, and each grew attributable profit by double digits over the half.

Cost discipline sets the limit on how far this extends. CNOOC's USD 29.7 per barrel of oil equivalent unit cost rose faster than its gas realization, which gained only 1.3%. If crude realizations retreat from USD 85.49 per barrel, the cushion between price and cost narrows first at the upstream end, where the largest share of the profit growth was generated this half.