Amid falling oil prices, China National Petroleum Corporation defies the trend with a green transformation, painting a new blueprint for sustainable growth.

As the international energy market continues to be shaken by persistent volatility, with Brent crude oil prices falling by nearly 15% compared to the same period last year, global major oil companies are generally facing performance pressures. Yet China National Petroleum Corporation has delivered a counter-cyclical upside performance with steady operational data. The 2025 financial report shows that the company achieved an annual operating revenue of 2.86 trillion yuan and a net profit of 157.318 billion yuan, demonstrating strong resilience to risks during a low industry period.

Over the past five years, this energy giant has accumulated a net profit of more than 700 billion yuan, nearly doubling compared to the “13th Five-Year Plan” period. In stark contrast to international peers such as ExxonMobil and Chevron, whose profits have significantly declined, China National Petroleum has built a unique buffering mechanism amid oil price fluctuations by optimizing its upstream and downstream industrial chain layout. The company’s management disclosed that, through integrating upstream and downstream businesses and strengthening lean, efficiency-focused management, it has successfully kept operational volatility within one-third of the industry average.

The capital market responded positively to this performance. China National Petroleum’s A-share and H-share prices have risen for five consecutive years, and the dividend payout ratio has remained high at 51%. This “growth and return balanced” performance stems from the company’s strategic shift from a traditional resource-based enterprise to a value-creating enterprise. By implementing a financial control system centered on “winning in advance,” the company has maintained profit growth despite slowing growth in refined oil consumption, through upgrades in refining and chemical sectors and market expansion.

A profound strategic adjustment has become the key turning point. The company upgraded its development goal from “building a world-class international energy company” to “creating a sustainable, world-class integrated energy and chemical enterprise.” Behind this change in wording is a systematic restructuring of its business model. By incorporating green and low-carbon initiatives into its five core strategies, China National Petroleum is accelerating its transformation from a single oil and gas supplier into an all-energy service provider, forming a dual industrial layout of “oil & gas, heat & power, and hydrogen” and “refining into high-value chemical materials.”

In the new energy sector, the company’s “three-step” transformation strategy has already achieved phased breakthroughs. Landmark projects such as the million-kilowatt photovoltaic base in Xinjiang and large wind power projects in Jilin have been successively put into operation. The scale of new energy development and utilization has exceeded 20 million tons of standard oil equivalent. Even more noteworthy is the explosive growth in the new materials business: the output of high-end products such as lithium battery separators and medical-grade polymer materials has continued to double. This not only fills domestic technological gaps but also elevates the company’s global ranking in refining to second place and its chemical business to fourth.

This transformation’s effectiveness is directly reflected in operational data. In 2025, the profit share from non-oil and gas businesses increased to 38%, up 25 percentage points from five years ago. Through continuous optimization of its asset structure, China National Petroleum has maintained the competitiveness of its traditional oil and gas operations while successfully cultivating multiple new profit growth engines. Industry experts point out that this “building on traditional energy foundations and empowering emerging industries” development model provides a replicable example for the industry to navigate cycles.

From strategic restructuring to industrial implementation, China National Petroleum has spent five years completing a fundamental shift in its development logic. While the industry is still discussing the pains of energy transition, this enterprise has already turned challenges into opportunities through forward-looking planning. As the high-quality development goals for 2027 approach, its exploration path continues to attract global attention within the energy sector.