China's Sinopec Posts 2.6% Rise In First-Half Profit

China's Sinopec posted a 2.6% rise in net profit for the first half of the year, it said as rising oil prices boosted income, Colleen Howe reported for Reuters.

Sinopec, the world's largest oil refiner by capacity, saw its sales fall 1.1% to 1.58 trillion yuan. I Photo: Sinopec Facebook

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., as Sinopec is officially known, reported a net income of 37.1 billion yuan ($5.21 billion) for January to June, according to a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Sinopec, the world's largest oil refiner by capacity, saw its sales fall 1.1% to 1.58 trillion yuan. Meanwhile, production of ethylene, a key building block for petrochemicals, fell 5.5% during the first half.

Capital expenditure was 55.9 billion yuan for the period. Crude oil output rose 0.6% on the year to 140.53 million barrels, while natural gas production increased by 6% to 700.57 billion cubic feet.

The company processed 126.69 million metric tons (MMT) of crude oil, about 5.08 million barrels per day (bpd), up 0.1% from the same period last year.