PetroChina has announced a proud financial report.

Last year, PetroChina's net profit approached 150 billion yuan, and even more exaggerated is that the year-on-year growth rate reached 62%.

Looking at the entire A-share market, the growth rate of most large and medium-sized enterprises is within 10%, and even many enterprises have a negative year-on-year profit growth.

However, PetroChina's profit growth rate has exceeded 60%, and we might mistakenly think that this is an astonishing performance created by a small company.

Undoubtedly, this is due to the sharp increase in oil prices last year.

So, who is paying for these oil companies when they are making a fortune?

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01, Oil prices soar

Although the Russia-Ukraine conflict has been going on for more than a year, despite the huge changes this conflict has brought to the international community, and it still shows no signs of ending.

Looking back at last year, in addition to Russia and Ukraine, Europe is the closest place to the battlefield, and due to the tense relationship with Russia, Europe is facing an unprecedented energy crisis. Therefore, the first to pay the bill are the countries of Europe.

In late February of last year, the contradictions between Russia and Ukraine suddenly turned into a military conflict. At the Russia-Ukraine border, there was a scene of flames in the sky.Russia and Ukraine conducted three rounds of negotiations on February 28th, March 2nd, and March 7th, respectively. However, all these negotiations ended without any significant outcome. Concurrently, the crude oil market responded with a more intense reaction. At the beginning of March, both Brent and WTI crude oil recorded their highest prices of the year, with the price per barrel surging past $130.

From that point on, the good times for global oil companies had arrived.

02, Following the Rise but Not the Fall

Up until June 2nd, after a series of economic, financial, and physical sanctions, Western countries ultimately decided to impose a comprehensive oil blockade on Russia. Despite being hindered by some countries led by Hungary, this resolution was officially implemented on June 3rd.

After that, the oil prices finally began to decline in the third quarter.

Throughout the first half of the year, the quarterly reports published by some international oil giants showed record profits. Take Saudi Aramco as an example, with a significant increase in profits and a continuous rise in stock prices.

Although the performance of the three major domestic oil companies was slightly less impressive, they also achieved a rare substantial increase after many years.

Looking back at the price situation of refined oil products last year, at the beginning of 2022, the price was 8,130 yuan per ton of gasoline, and it continued to rise throughout the first half of the year. Among multiple pricing windows, there was only one decrease in April, and by June 15th, the price of gasoline per ton had increased to 10,850 yuan, a rise of 33%.

It is worth noting that during this rise, the increase in domestic refined oil prices was not less than that of international oil prices. However, when international oil prices fell in the second half of the year, we found that the decline in domestic refined oil prices seemed to be far less than the drop in international oil prices.

Thus, in addition to Europe paying the bill for international oil companies, domestic car owners are also footing the bill for the three major domestic oil companies.03, Structural Changes

In the second half of the year, especially around October, the explosion of the Nord Stream oil pipeline shocked the world. Due to the leakage and the massive influx of seawater, Nord Stream 1 and 2 had to be taken out of service, and the main natural gas passage between Europe and Russia was artificially severed.

Following the incident, everyone was questioning whether Europe's natural gas storage projects could be successful.

Affected by sanctions from Western countries, Russia's daily oil exports to Europe decreased by 1.4 million barrels, while oil exports to Asian countries, such as India, China, and some lesser-known regions, increased by 1.26 million barrels.

At the same time, the United States' crude oil exports to Europe surged significantly, with a daily increase of 440,000 barrels. Through this conflict, the United States also made a substantial profit.

The international crude oil trade structure underwent significant changes.

04, Stock Prices Do Not Follow the Rise

However, is this related to the ordinary people in the country?

If it is related, it is that in the second half of last year, the oil prices finally experienced a decline.

By December 20th of last year, the last pricing window of the year, the oil price fell back to 8,680 yuan, an increase of 550 yuan per ton compared to the beginning of the year at 8,130 yuan.Although the overall increase still occurred, at least the rate of increase has slowed down.

It was in the year following the significant rise in oil prices that PetroChina's profits grew by 62%, but for shareholders, the gains were not as substantial.

At the beginning of the year, the share price was 4.98 yuan, and by the end of the year, it had risen to 5.6 billion yuan, which is only a 12.88% increase.

For the average consumer, it has been observed that the prices at the gas pump are no longer what they used to be.