BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - The optimum crude oil price for producer/refiner PetroChina is about 80 dollars per barrel, chairman Jiang Jiemin said.

However, the break-even price of crude for its refinery business is 75 dollars per barrel, Jiang told reporters following a shareholders meeting.
PetroChina’s refining business should be profitable in November, he said. The company’s production target for 2008 remains 110 million tons of crude oil and 60 billion cubic meters of natural gas, despite recent steep falls in crude oil prices, he added.
Jiang said he did not know if the company would receive another government subsidy in the last quarter of the year. The government has given it subsidies in the past to compensate for refining losses due to caps on prices of refined oil products.
The main influence on PetroChina’s profit this year will be increased windfall tax, he said.
The country should adjust oil product prices soon, he added, without elaborating. PetroChina will allocate over 70 pct of its total investment to its core business in 2009, up from the current 60-65 percent, he said.
Jiang also said the company will start construction soon on a refinery and ethylene plant in Sichuan.
PetroChina said in May that it was reconsidering the plan after a powerful earthquake struck the region. It set up a special team to review the site to decide whether it was prone to natural disasters.
The planned refinery, in Pengzhou, was designed to process 10 million tons of oil and produce 800,000 tons of ethylene per annum.
Jiang added that the overseas output of parent company China National Petroleum Corp is expected to exceed 66 million tons oil equivalent in 2008.