Newswire — Sinopec Corp reported 28% year-on-year growth in first-quarter profit as higher global oil prices brought on by the Iran war increased the value of its crude inventory and the refiner maintained stable fuel sales.
Formally known as China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, Sinopec’s net income stood at 17 billion yuan ($2.49 billion) between January and March, according to a filing with the Shanghai stock exchange based on Chinese accounting standards.
Sinopec’s crude throughput during the period was at 62.02 million metric tons, or 5.03 million barrels per day, down 0.2% versus a year earlier.
Sinopec, the world’s largest refining group by capacity, said last month it reduced throughput in March by 5% as the Iran conflict disrupted crude oil supply from the Middle East.
Total refined fuel sales dipped 0.2% on the year to 55.46 million tons, but the company managed to lift domestic sales by 0.6% to 43.42 million tons.
China twice limited hikes to domestic pump fuel prices to soften the impact from the war, which effectively also pinched the margins for refiners.
Sinopec’s output of ethylene, a building block for producing petrochemicals, fell 8% to 3.55 million tons during the period, as its chemical department faces an “unfavorable market environment of continuously low margins”.
Oil and gas output gained 0.4% to 131.5 million barrels of oil equivalent during the quarter, including 63.4 million barrels of crude oil pumped domestically, up 1%.
Natural gas production edged up 0.4% to 370 billion cubic feet.
Capital expenditure came in at 25.17 billion yuan, rising from 18.25 billion a year earlier. Of the total, 62% went to its upstream division developing oil projects in Jiyang in east China and Tahe in the northwest, as well as natural gas projects in southwest Sichuan.
Sinopec’s Hong Kong-listed shares dropped 1.7% so far this year, against a 0.2% rise in the benchmark Hang Seng index.
(metric ton=7.3 barrels for crude oil conversion)
($1 = 6.8359 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Reporting by Chen Aizhu and Sam Li; Editing by Joe Bavier – Reuters
