Sinopec Profits Shrink as Economic Woes Weigh on Fuel Demand

Sinopec’s first-half profits shrank amid lower oil prices and fuel demand being weighed down by China’s sluggish economic recovery.
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., as it’s officially known, posted net income of 36.12 billion yuan ($4.96 billion), according to international financial reporting standards. That compared with a revised 44.8 billion yuan a year earlier.
Domestic sales of refined oil products at Sinopec, China’s largest fuel-maker, rose 18% in the first six months from the previous year, when residents in megacities like Shanghai were completely locked down for months on end. Still, a lingering property crisis and weaker overseas demand for exports have kept the recovery in check.
Meanwhile, crude prices were 24% lower than the year before, reducing the value of Sinopec’s global oil and gas production.
The company said in a separate stock exchange filing Sunday that it plans to spend 800 million yuan to 1.5 billion yuan on a share buyback on the A-share market. It declared an interim dividend of 0.145 yuan a share compared with 0.16 yuan a year earlier.
Sinopec’s larger state-owned sister firm, PetroChina Co., will report earnings Wednesday. The country’s offshore driller, Cnooc Ltd., said earlier this month that first-half profit fell on lower oil prices.

About Parvin Faghfouri Azar

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