China Gas reports 16% rise in half-year profit

Kunlun Energy

25/11/2019 10:31

* New residential users up 15.8% in "coal-to-gas" push
    * Expects to benefit from upcoming Russian gas pipeline
    * Apr-Sept gas sales up 7.8%
    * LNG, LPG trading weigh on revenue

    BEIJING, Nov 25 (Reuters) - China Gas Holdings Ltd  0384.HK 
reported a 16.2% rise in mid-year profit to 4.91 billion Hong
Kong dollars ($627 million) as Beijing's anti-pollution campaign
helped boost gas demand.
    Analysts expected a profit of 4.84 billion dollars,
Refinitiv data showed.
    China's largest independent city-gas distributor by market
capitalisation saw a 3.3% fall in revenue to 27.93 billion
dollars for the six months to September 30, it said in a
statement filed to Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
    Results were hurt by trading in liquefied natural gas (LNG)
and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), China Gas said.
    Still, natural gas sales rose 7.8% to 11.84 billion cubic
metres and it posted a 15.8% rise in new residential users,
adding 2.93 million households.
    Since 2017 the government has been pushing households in
northern China to switch to gas- or electricity-fired heating
from coal-burning units in a bid to curb air pollution.
    China Gas Holdings has partnered with PetroChina's Kunlun
Energy  0135.HK  to connect thousands of households in
northeastern provinces to a Russia-China gas pipeline due to
launch in early December.
    "(Pipeline gas in the northeast) will directly benefit from
Russian gas," the company said in the statement, adding it will
significantly strengthen its ability to secure gas supply and
enhance the overall profitability of local project companies.
    During the April-September period, China Gas secured four
new city piped gas projects in the northeastern provinces of
Heilongjiang, Liaoning, as well as Inner Mongolia and the Henan
region, it said.  
    As of the end of September, China Gas had 32.6 million
householder gas users, 13,838 industrial users and 213,951
commercial users in 26 regions across the country.
    Average selling prices for residential users during
April-September period were up 4.4% to 2.6 yuan ($0.3694) per
cubic metre. Prices for industrial users were up 6.1% to 2.61
yuan per cubic metre.
    "The Group will continue to...promote the pipeline
connections for city and township residents, increase the 'coal
to gas conversion' installation...and to vigorously develop the
rural gas market," it said.
    ($1 = 7.8249 Hong Kong dollars)
    ($1 = 7.0389 Chinese yuan renminbi)

 (Reporting by Muyu Xu and Shivani Singh; editing by Jason
Neely)
 ((muyu.xu@thomsonreuters.com; +86 10 56692117;))