PetroChina said Thursday it will suffer a massive loss of more than 50 billion yuan (US$7.84 billion) on its refining business this year if fuel prices remain at current levels through the end of the year, Reuters reported.

A senior executive at PetroChina told Reuters the company welcomed possible fuel pricing reforms to give refining companies and distributers more say in this regard, but now was not yet the right time to make the changes.

The executive explained that the company has to pay as much as 29 billion yuan (US$4.55 billion) per year in tax if crude oil prices stand at about US$100 per barrel, expanding its total tax bill in excess of 300 billion yuan (US$47.06 billion) this year. It previously paid around 4 billion yuan per year in such taxes, the executive said.

According to government statistics, PetroChina, Sinopec and CNOOC remain among the central government’s top rainmakers. Combined profits of the three companies reached 270.54 billion yuan (US$42.43 billion) in 2010, 47 percent higher than a year before.

China's business press carried the story above on Monday.