China’s Sinopec posts 2.6% profit rise in first half | WSAU News/Talk 550 AM 99.9 FM

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Sinopec said on Sunday its net profit rose 2.6% in the first half of the year, helped by rising oil prices and a boost in revenue.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., officially known as Sinopec, said on Sunday it had net income of 37.1 billion yuan ($5.21 billion) in the January-June period, according to a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Sinopec, the world’s largest oil refiner by capacity, saw sales fall 1.1% to 1.58 trillion yuan.

Meanwhile, production of ethylene, a key raw material for petrochemical production, fell 5.5% in the first half of the year.

Capital expenditure during this period amounted to 55.9 billion yuan.

Oil production rose 0.6% year-on-year to 140.53 million barrels, Sinopec previously said, while natural gas production rose 6% to 700.57 billion cubic feet.

The company processed 126.69 million tonnes of crude oil, or about 5.08 million barrels per day (bpd), up 0.1% year-on-year, according to a July stock exchange report.

That compared with 1.7% growth in the first quarter. The slowdown was due to higher oil prices and moderate domestic demand for fuel.

(1 dollar = 7.1244 Chinese yuan)

(The article corrected information that Sinopec’s first-half profit rose 2.6%, not 2.7%, and removed reference to data based on Chinese standards)

(Reporting by Colleen Howe and Beijing staff; Lincoln Feast editing.)