PetroChina Company Limited (PetroChina), China's largest oil and gas producer, said Thursday that its first half profit rose 29.4 percent year on year due to soaring crude oil prices and rising oil and gas output.

Net profit totaled 65.33 billion yuan (9.6 billion U.S. dollars) while earnings per share were 0.36 yuan, 0.08 yuan more than the same period of last year, the company said in a statement filed with the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock markets.

The company's crude oil output rose by 1.7 percent to 425 million barrels in the first half of the year. It produced 1.15 trillion cubic feet natural gas, up 12.9 percent year on year.

PetroChina is the Hong Kong- and Shanghai-listed subsidiary of the China National Petroleum Corporation.