The China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the country's largest oil producer, planned to cut its workforce by 5 percent in upcoming three years as its profits had been squeezed by heavy refining losses. The China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the country's largest oil producer, planned to cut its workforce by 5 percent in upcoming three years as its profits had been squeezed by heavy refining losses. [file] The oil giant had 1.67 million staff last year, which meant more than 80,000 of them would be laid-off within three years, Beijing News reported.The move followed CNPC's earlier announcement to cut non-production spending by 10 percent from a year earlier, the paper said.Related readings: CNPC H1 crude output up 466,700 tons CNPC estimates direct losses of 1.78b yuan from quake Sinopec sees limited benefits from recent oil price declines Sinopec expects H1 profit to fall 50% CNPC's profit before tax dropped by 39 percent year-on-year to 56.4 billion yuan (US$8.3 billion) in the first half year as a result of refining loss and windfall taxes on crude oil sales. To reduce costs, CNPC halted or cut investment in 49 projects in June, saving the company up to 20.72 billion yuan.PetroChina, CNPC's listed arm, announced last month to issue no more than 60 billion yuan to "satisfy the operational needs of the company, further improve its debt structure, reduce financing costs and supplement working capital."