Cost-cutting moves

CHINA National Petroleum Corp, the country's biggest oil and gas producer, plans to cut extraction costs, project spending and overseas traveling budgets this year as slowing economic growth erodes fuel demand.

Its oil and gas lifting costs will be cut by at least 5 percent from a year earlier and spending on projects will be cut by more than 10 percent, the Beijing-based company said in its newsletter China Oil News yesterday. The budget for overseas business travel and car purchases will be cut by at least 10 percent.