PetroChina employees conduct daily inspections on equipment at a facility in Puyang, Henan province. [Photo by Tong Jiang/For China Daily]

PetroChina, China's largest oil and gas producer, saw net profits for the third quarter soar to 40.05 billion yuan ($5.95 billion), up 353.6 percent year-on-year, the company said on Thursday.

The company attributed the upsurge of net profit, despite the dual impacts of plummeting oil prices and a demand slump amid the COVID-19 outbreak, to effective cost control and high-quality development.

Major breakthroughs have also been made in domestic oil and gas exploration. Crude production increased 2.7 percent year-on-year during the first three quarters, while gas production increased 6.5 percent year-on-year.

Net profit during the first three quarters reached 10.07 billion yuan, down 73 percent year-on-year. Revenue fell 20 percent to 497.13 billion yuan, as crude prices remained at low levels after a collapse in the first half of the year.