According to the Securities Times app, Daiwa Securities released a research report stating that Petrochina (00857) had the best performance among the 'Big Three' oil companies in the third quarter. Despite the fall in oil prices, the quarterly profit still increased by 2%, exceeding expectations. Although the downstream business had weaker profit performance during the period, the group's cost control and the rise in natural gas prices helped drive the performance of upstream pretax profits, with the natural gas business also achieving steady profit growth. Therefore, the 'shareholding' rating for Petrochina is maintained with a target price of 8.76 Hong Kong dollars.

The report mentioned that although Petrochina's third-quarter refining and chemical business pretax profit was below expectations, the pretax profit of the exploration and production business increased by 11% year-on-year, exceeding expectations. The pretax profit of the natural gas business saw a 58% increase, surpassing expectations, mainly benefiting from lower import costs and a slight increase in average selling prices on a quarterly basis.