Morgan Stanley has released a research report indicating that PetroChina's first-quarter earnings fell short of expectations, with earnings per share at RMB 0.26, 4% lower than the firm's forecast. This underperformance was primarily attributed to realized oil prices that were 14% below projections. The report suggests that the discrepancy stemmed from pricing time lags, which led to a larger-than-expected discount on realized oil prices relative to Brent crude during the first quarter. The firm anticipates this situation will normalize in the second quarter.

Morgan Stanley has assigned an "Overweight" rating to the stock, with a target price of HKD 13.25. The report further highlighted that the natural gas, refining, chemical, and distribution segments all delivered results significantly above expectations. Despite the lower-than-expected nominal profit, the firm believes the actual operational performance was substantially stronger than anticipated.