China’s Sinopec’s interim profit down 20.1% on lower oil prices By Reuters

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<span>© Reuters. The logo of China Petroleum &amp; Chemical Corporation, or Sinopec, is displayed during the LNG 2023 energy trade show in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, July 12, 2023. REUTERS/Chris Helgren</span><br />
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<p>(Reuters) – Chinese refining giant Sinopec (OTC:) Corp reported on Sunday a 20.1% fall in interim net profit for the first half of the year compared with the year-ago period, to 35.11 billion yuan ($4.82 billion), on lower crude prices despite higher refinery output and growth in fuel sales.</p>
<p>Sinopec, the world’s largest refiner by capacity, reported revenues of 1.59 trillion yuan for the six months, down 1.1% from the year earlier level.</p>
<p>During the period, Sinopec processed a total of 126.54 million metric tons of , up 4.8% versus a year ago, and its refined fuel sales rose 18.5%, to 116.6 million tons, the company said in a stock filing.</p>
<p>Domestic fuel demand extended recovery in the second quarter after a 6.7% year-on-year increase in the first three months, led by gasoline and aviation fuel as people travelled more.</p>
<p>Demand for diesel fuel, however, remained under pressure from an ailing property sector and as weakening merchandise exports curbed trucking.</p>
<p>Chinese refiners overall benefited from cheap crude oil supplies from Iran, Venezuela and Russia, as Western sanctions forced those producers to sell oil at deep discounts to keep revenue flowing. </p>
<p>Although state majors have shied away from Iranian and Venezuelan oil, Sinopec has been taking in Russian supplies, traders have said. </p>
<p>Sinopec produced 139.68 million barrels of crude oil during the six months, up 0.02% year on year, while its output gained 7.6% to 660.88 billion cubic feet.</p>
<p>The company’s refining margin was 354 yuan ($48.57) per ton in the first half of this year, down 33.6% from a year earlier, it said. </p>
<p>Capital expenditure for the half-year came in at 74.67 billion yuan, versus 64.65 billion yuan a year earlier.</p>
<p>Sinopec has been stepping up exploring geologically more challenging reserves, like the Bazhong tight gas field and more shale gas acreage in Sichuan. </p>
<p>Its Hong Kong-listed shares have risen 14.4% year-to-date, outperforming which has fallen 10.9% during the period. </p>
<p>($1 = 7.2890 renminbi) </p>
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