---
endpoint: analytics
pattern: Energy
status: done
latency_ms: 139534
conversation_id: 34356bca-1c1c-4742-b5cf-5f12f4e6190e
citations: 9
created: 2026-05-31 21:16:42Z
---

# Who are the key customers and suppliers of PetroChina?

# PetroChina (857 HK / 601857 CH) — Key Customers & Suppliers

PetroChina operates as a vertically-integrated national oil champion, so a large share of its "customer/supplier" map is **intra-group** (segment-to-segment flows) or **intra-state** (sister SOEs and the controlling parent CNPC). The remainder is end-market demand (industrial users, transportation fleets, city-gas distributors, retail fuel customers). Disclosures rarely name individual external counterparties — Chinese SOE reporting aggregates them as classes of customers. The map below reconciles the structural picture from PetroChina's own filings.

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## 1. Ownership / Controlling Counterparty (top of the supplier-customer stack)

| Entity | Role | Stake |
|---|---|---|
| **China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)** | Parent / controlling shareholder; the integrated state energy conglomerate that is simultaneously PetroChina's largest related-party supplier (engineering/technical services, petroleum equipment, oilfield services) and counterparty on a broad continuing connected-transactions framework | **82.71%** as of FY2017 (previously 86.51%); SASAC of the State Council is the ultimate controller [1] |

CNPC's own businesses span **oil & gas exploration & development, refining and petrochemical, oil product marketing, oil and gas storage and transportation, oil trading, engineering and technical services and petroleum equipment manufacturing** [1] — virtually every line on PetroChina's procurement schedule (drilling rigs, oilfield services, materials, construction) flows from CNPC affiliates under multi-year connected-transactions agreements.

---

## 2. Internal Inter-Segment Flows (The Largest "Customer-Supplier" Relationship Inside PetroChina)

PetroChina's biggest "customer" of its own crude is itself. The Exploration & Production (E&P) segment supplies the Refining segment; Refining supplies the Marketing segment.

- **Approximately 83% of crude oil sold by the Group is purchased by its own refineries**, and **approximately 89% of crude oil processed in the Group's refineries is supplied by the E&P segment** [2]. The remaining ~11% of refinery feedstock is sourced externally (imported crude and third-party Chinese crude).
- Marketing segment revenue was **RMB 2,771.9 bn in 2022** [3] and **RMB 1,269.1 bn in 1H 2024** [4] — the bulk of those sales are refined products produced upstream within the Group.

---

## 3. Downstream / External Customer Map (by Segment)

### a) Refined Products (Marketing Segment)

Customer types disclosed by management:

- **Retail fuel customers** through PetroChina's nationwide service-station network (the largest in China; complemented by convenience-store / non-oil revenue).
- **Wholesale / direct-sale industrial customers** — addressed through the "direct wholesale APP" and segmented "refined retailing" / "small and micro customers" channels [8].
- **Emerging clean-energy customers** — vehicle LNG, EV charging/swapping, hydrogen refuelling. In 1H 2025, **vehicle LNG refueling volume grew 58.9% YoY and electricity charged/swapped volume rose 213.0%** [6], indicating fast-growing transportation-fleet and EV-end customer cohorts.
- Management's stated strategy is **"differentiated marketing based on product type, region and customer"** with **"targeted marketing strategies by region, variety, industry and time period to improve marketing capabilities and service quality"** [6][8].

### b) Natural Gas Sales Segment

The Natural Gas segment is structured around **"key cities and key customers"** with civilian (residential), industrial, and power-generation buyers serviced through trunk-pipeline offtakers:

- City-gas distributors (Kunlun Energy [stock 135 HK, an affiliated downstream gas distributor], ENN, China Gas, Towngas) and other licensed urban gas operators.
- **Direct selling customers and end-customers** — management has "vigorously developed direct selling customers and end-customers and continuously improved customer service level" in 1H 2024 [5].
- High-end industrial and power-generation customers — segment strategy is to **"expand diversified sales channels and actively develop high-efficiency markets and high-end customers"** [9].
- Civilian gas, key cities and key customers were explicitly identified as priority offtakers under the pipeline-network operating principle [7].

### c) Refining / Chemicals & New Materials

- Sales target high-value-added chemical and new-materials customers. Management's stated plan: **"enhance market and customer development, formulate targeted marketing strategies by region, variety, industry and time period"** and increase production of aviation kerosene, low-sulfur marine fuel oil, asphalt, ethylene, aromatics, and new materials [8].
- Customer classes: chemical converters (resins, rubber, fibers), aviation operators (jet fuel), marine bunker buyers (low-sulfur fuel oil), road-construction contractors (asphalt).

### d) Pipeline / Midstream

- Before the 2020 spin-out into **PipeChina (China Oil & Gas Pipeline Network Corp.)**, PetroChina was both the operator and largest user of its long-distance pipelines. Today PetroChina is one of PipeChina's largest **shippers/customers**, accessing the West-East Gas Pipelines (multiple lines), Central Asia–China Gas Pipeline (Lines A/B/C/D), and Sino-Russia Crude Oil and Power-of-Siberia gas pipelines — the latter being **strategic import channels diversifying China's oil and gas sources** [7].

### e) Overseas / International Trading

- Overseas operations generated **RMB 573.1 bn (36.9% of total revenue) in 1H 2024** [5] and **RMB 1,350.3 bn (41.7%) in 2022** [3]; these flows are predominantly trading-segment counterparties (oil-product exports, crude swaps, LNG trade with global NOCs and IOCs).

---

## 4. Key Suppliers Map

### a) Upstream / Procurement Suppliers

| Supplier category | Notes |
|---|---|
| **CNPC (parent) and CNPC group affiliates** | Engineering services, drilling, well services, petroleum equipment manufacturing, refined-oil-equipment supply — governed by continuing connected-transactions framework; CNPC's scope explicitly includes "engineering and technical services and petroleum equipment manufacturing" [1] |
| **International crude oil suppliers** | Middle East NOCs (Saudi Aramco, ADNOC, Kuwait, Iraq), Russian Federation crude (ESPO via Sino-Russia pipeline) [7], African and Latin American producers; sourced for the ~11% of refinery feed not internally produced [2] |
| **PipeChina (国家管网)** | Trunk-line transmission services for both crude and gas since the 2020 midstream reform |
| **International LNG suppliers** | Long-term contracts with Qatar (QatarEnergy), Australia (Chevron Gorgon/Wheatstone-linked offtake), US (Cheniere offtake), and spot LNG cargoes — feeding the Natural Gas Sales segment whose 1H 2024 OpEx rose 7.3% YoY to RMB 281.3 bn primarily on "increase in procurement volume of natural gas" [5] |
| **Domestic gas suppliers** | Central Asian piped gas (Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan via Central Asia-China Pipeline) [7]; smaller volumes from CNOOC and Sinopec via swap agreements |

### b) Service / Equipment Suppliers

- CNPC-affiliated drilling subsidiaries (e.g., CNPC Engineering & Construction, BGP Inc., Great Wall Drilling) — provided under intra-group framework.
- Independent oilfield-services providers (international: Schlumberger/SLB, Halliburton, Baker Hughes — typically smaller share than CNPC affiliates).
- Domestic petroleum equipment makers (Jereh, Honghua, Hilong Group) for fracking spreads, drilling rigs, OCTG.

---

## 5. Peer / Sister-SOE Counterparties

PetroChina swaps refined products and crude with the other Chinese majors as a normal course of trading:

- **Sinopec (386 HK / 600028 CH)** — counterparty on product swaps, crude exchanges, and pipeline access.
- **CNOOC (883 HK / 600938 CH)** — offshore crude supplier; partner in upstream JVs.
- **Kunlun Energy (135 HK)** — PetroChina-affiliated downstream gas distributor and LNG terminal operator; major customer of PetroChina's gas wholesale segment.

---

## 6. So-What for Investors

- **Concentration risk is largely policy/regulatory, not commercial.** Because the largest "suppliers" (CNPC group, PipeChina) and largest "customers" (own downstream segments, sister SOEs, state-allocated city-gas networks) are all within the SASAC perimeter, PetroChina's customer/supplier exposure is **best read as exposure to Chinese energy policy** (refined-product price caps, residential gas tariff resets, SASAC dividend mandates) rather than to any single private counterparty.
- **The fastest-growing external customer cohorts are EV/LNG transportation users** (LNG vehicle +58.9% YoY, EV charging +213% YoY in 1H 2025) [6], reflecting the strategic pivot of the Marketing segment.
- **Largest external supplier-side risks** are imported LNG pricing (procurement cost lifted 1H 2024 gas-segment OpEx) [5] and overseas crude — both managed via long-term contracts with Middle East NOCs, Russia, and Central Asian states routed through CNPC pipeline infrastructure [7].

---

**Sources**
[1] PetroChina 2017 Annual Report — Information on Controlling Shareholder & Ultimate Controller (CNPC 82.71% stake; SASAC ultimate controller; CNPC business scope) — chunk_id 7614079187928931706
[2] PetroChina 2005 Annual Report — Business Review (83% of E&P crude sold to own refineries; 89% of refinery feed from E&P) — chunk_id 7614071906608378653
[3] PetroChina 2022 Annual Report — Marketing segment revenue RMB 2,771.9 bn; overseas operations RMB 1,350.3 bn (41.7% of total) — chunk_id 7514675519198354289
[4] PetroChina 2024 Interim Report — Marketing segment revenue RMB 1,269.1 bn in 1H 2024 — chunk_id 7578434792046881884
[5] PetroChina 2024 Interim Results — Natural Gas Sales segment customer strategy & overseas revenue 36.9% share — chunk_id 7577800115566581273
[6] PetroChina 2025 Interim Report — 1H 2025 Marketing segment: LNG vehicle refueling +58.9% YoY; EV charging +213.0% YoY — chunk_id 7577891955753902806
[7] PetroChina 2010 Annual Report — Pipeline strategy: Sino-Russia, Central Asia-China, West-East II lines; supply for civilian use, key cities and key customers — chunk_id 7614080544625365817
[8] PetroChina 2021 Interim Report — Refining/Chemicals and Refined-Products marketing strategy (customer & market development) — chunk_id 7578435187796124065
[9] PetroChina 2022 Annual Report — Natural Gas Sales: develop high-efficiency markets and high-end customers — chunk_id 7514675515796178349

## Citations

- [1] **PetroChina Company Limited, Q4 2017 Report** · external
- [2] **PetroChina Company Limited, Q4 2005 Report** · external
- [3] **PetroChina Company Limited Class H: 2022 ANNUAL REPORT** · external
- [4] **PetroChina Company Limited - Q2 2024 - Report** · external
- [5] **PetroChina Company Limited Class H: RESULTS ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED JUNE 30, 2024 (SUMMARY OF THE 2024 INTERIM REPORT)** · external
- [6] **PetroChina Company Limited - Q2 2025 - Earnings release** · external
- [7] **PetroChina Company Limited, Q4 2010 Report** · external
- [8] **PetroChina Company Limited - Q2 2021 - Report** · external
- [9] **PetroChina Company Limited Class H: 2022 ANNUAL REPORT** · external

