The company's president pledges to accelerate its global expansion plans

HONG KONG - PetroChina Co pledged to accelerate acquisitions of energy assets and develop the country's domestic resources of natural gas as demand for the fuel rises following Japan's nuclear reactor crisis.

"We will accelerate our global expansion," PetroChina President Zhou Jiping said at a media briefing in Hong Kong on Thursday, after the company posted a record quarterly profit.