By AAP
PetroChina, China's biggest oil producer, says its profit rose 12.4 per cent last year after higher retail petrol prices helped to narrow heavy losses for its refining unit.
PetroChina said on Thursday that earnings rose to 129.6 billion yuan ($A23.95 billion). Total revenue rose 2.9 per cent to 2.2 trillion yuan.
A change in state-set retail petrol prices in 2013 helped to narrow state-owned PetroChina's loss on refining operations by nearly 45 per cent to 24.4 billion yuan.
China's government squeezes refining margins at its major oil companies and sometimes forces them into a loss by holding down prices at the pump when global crude costs spike up.
