`No Hope' Fields Spur 1st PetroChina Output Cut in 17 Years

  • Output seen dropping 2.7% as crude decline outweighs gas gain
  • Reported $3.8 billion writedown; sees $40-$50 oil this year

Employees stand at a PetroChina Co. gas station in Beijing, China, on Friday, March 4, 2016.

Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
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As oil’s collapse leaves some fields with no chance to turn a profit, China’s biggest producer is ready to cut its losses.

PetroChina Co. sees oil and gas output falling the first time in 17 years as it shuts high-cost fields that have “no hope” of making profits at current prices, Wang Dongjin, the company’s president, said Wednesday in Hong Kong after the company reported the lowest net income since it began trading publicly.