PetroChina posted a 5.8% year-on-year rise in first quarter net profit to CNY39.15 billion, as sharply higher profit from oil-and-gas production was mostly offset by widened losses in oil-refining and gas-import operations. Revenues increased 17.9% to CNY525.65 billion. Operating profit from oil-and-gas production surged 31.6% to CNY60.38 billion on the back of a 3.6% increase in oil output to 227 million barrels, and a 14.8% jump in the average crude-oil selling price, to USD105.48 per barrel. Natural-gas output grew 11.2% to 710.9 billion cubic feet, while the average selling price climbed 9.9% to USD4.87 per thousand cubic feet. The group’s operating loss on oil refining and chemical production widened to CNY10.82 billion, from CNY3.69 billion in the year-earlier period. Fuel and chemical distribution’s operating profit tumbled 21% to CNY6.06 billion, reflecting the weak global economy, and the operating profit for gas-distribution and pipeline operations dived 71% to CNY2 billion. “We expect refining margins to remain weak in [this year’s first-half], despite the increases in product prices announced in the first-quarter,” said Sanford Bernstein Analysts Neil Beveridge and Lou Ying in a research report.  They also expected that PetroChina’s benefits from gas price increases in Guangdong and Guangxi this year would be offset by higher gas imports from Turkmenistan in Central Asia, which is a loss-making business because Beijing also kept domestic-gas prices below international levels. PetroChina Vice Chairman Zhou Jiping has said the group planned to raise gas imports to 28.2 billion cubic meters of gas this year, from 17.3 billion last year, the South China Morning Post reports.

Developers and investors are expected to slow their property investments in Chongqing because of the city’s recent political storm, property consultancy Knight Frank said. “Investors will adopt a wait-and-see approach in the coming six to 12 months because of a change in state leaders,” said Thomas Lam, Director of Greater China Research at Knight Frank. “We don’t see a property crash in Chongqing in the long run because it’s still a very hot investment spot in China,” Lam said, adding that the province’s property market is still positive and healthy. But Lam said political risks would affect the property market. Since Chongqing had previously launched incentives for investors, a change in the province’s leadership could cast doubt on policy directions. Lam said the average price of a home in Chongqing dropped about 5% in the first quarter this year. Knight Frank expects a further 10% to 15% price correction for the mass residential market by the end of this year, with luxury residential flats in Chongqing likely to have a 10% price adjustment for the same period. Chongqing and Shanghai are the only two Chinese cities to have introduced the nation’s first property tax for second-home buyers, a move to curb soaring property prices.

United States luxury retailer Coach aims to ramp up sales in China. Lew Frankfort, Chairman and Chief Executive, said the New York-based firm was on track to secure at least USD300 million in sales across the mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao in its fiscal year to June. Sales surged 60% in the quarter to March from the same period last year. “We added five new locations [last quarter], all on the mainland,” Frankfort said. Coach now has 12 stores in Hong Kong, 3 in Macao and 70 on the mainland. Ten more stores are slated to open in the quarter to June.

A team of Hong Kong scientists will join China’s first lunar project by developing a device to recover samples of lunar rocks. Polytechnic University signed a contract with the China Academy of Space Technology on the research and development of a “surface sampling and packing system” for the third and final phase of the Chang’e lunar exploration program. The device will be used to collect samples of lunar rock in a mission expected to be completed in 2017. Professor Yung Kai-leung, Associate Dean of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, will lead the research. Yung has helped produce sophisticated tools for previous space missions, including the development of a Mars rock corer for the European Space Agency’s 2003 Mars Express Mission; forceps for Russia’s Mir Space Station; and a soil preparation system for Phobos-Grunt, Russia’s ill-fated expedition last year to one of the moons of Mars. Beijing divided the Chang’e project into three phases – orbiting, landing and returning – over two decades starting from 2003. The first phase has been completed and the second is expected to start next year.

The Chinese Government Scholarship Program, established by the Ministry of Education, will increase full and partial scholarships to international students and scholars studying in China. “In the school year from 2012 to 2013, the scholarship investment will at least be CNY1.5 billion, said Zhang Xiuqin, Director of the Ministry’s Department of International Cooperation and Exchange. The average scholarship will increase to CNY60,000, up from CNY50,000 and more students will receive scholarships. Applicants can find information on the website of the China Scholarship Council (http://en.csc.edu.cn/), and apply for the scholarship at the Chinese embassy or consulates in their home countries. Those with full scholarships are exempt from tuition, accommodation fees and material cost, and receive living allowances, free medical services and settlement subsidies. According to the Ministry, 25,687 international students were studying in China under the Chinese Government Scholarship Program in 2011, an increase of 14.7% over 2010. The number of self-financed international students increased 10% to 266,924 in 2011. In 2010, the Ministry published a 10-year plan, setting the goal of attracting more than 500,000 overseas students to China by 2020, with 150,000 receiving higher education, the China Daily reports.