Sinopec, the Chinese state-owned oil major and Asia’s biggest oil refiner, has posted a 22 per cent decline in quarterly profits amid global slump in oil prices.
Sinopec is Asia’s biggest oil refiner
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, also known as Sinopec, revealed that net income had dropped to 25.4 billion yuan from 32.5 billion yuan a year earlier in a statement given to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Wednesday.
The first-half results from Chinese state-owned oil major underscored the magnitude of a spending pullback amid weak global economic growth and constrained demand for commodities, including crude.
Sinopec sought to counter the fall in crude prices by increasing oil refining, which along with marketing accounted for half of the company’s revenue last year. The company plans to raise refining throughput to 123 million tons in the second half of the year, from 119 million in the first six months, and reverse a decline in crude output.
Hong Kong traders were quoted by Bloomberg as saying that the first half of 2015 had been a roller coaster ride for Sinopec. The company lost money in refining in the first quarter because they had to use higher priced inventory bought last year, but then turned a profit in the second quarter because they were able to consume cheaper crude.