PetroChina Company Limited (PetroChina), China's largest oil and gas producer, said Tuesday its net profit for the first quarter rose 71.2 percent year on year on soaring crude oil prices and rising domestic demand.

According to international accounting standards, PetroChina's net profit totaled 32.492 billion yuan (4.75 billion U.S. dollars) while earnings per share were 0.18 yuan, 0.08 yuan more than the same period last year, the company said in a statement filed to the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock markets.

The oil giant produced 210 million barrels of crude oil in the first quarter, up 2.1 percent from a year ago, while natural gas production hit 609.9 billion cubic feet, up 16.5 percent.

Total crude oil refined from January to March rose by 16.2 percent to 215 million barrels with output of gasoline, diesel and kerosene totaling 18.824 million tonnes, up 15.0 percent, the statement said.

PetroChina sold 27.049 million tonnes of gasoline, diesel and kerosene during the Jan-March period, up 27.3 percent from a year ago, as the Chinese economy recovered along with domestic demand.

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

Shares of the company on the mainland A-share market shed 2.30 percent to 11.92 yuan Tuesday while the stock price in Hong Kong dropped 1.408 percent to 9.1 Hong Kong dollars. (100 HK dollars = 87.919 yuan)