Sinopec’s first-half profit plunges by one-fifth as China’s slowing economy crimps fuel demand
- China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, as it’s officially known, said net income fell by nearly one fifth to 36.12 billion yuan (US$4.96 billion) from a year earlier
- The company said that it plans to spend 800 million yuan to 1.5 billion yuan on a share buy-back on the A-share market
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 Corporation, as it’s officially known, posted net income of 36.12 billion yuan (US$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 per cent 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 per cent 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 buy-back 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 China National Offshore Oil Corporation, also known as Cnooc, said earlier this month that first-half profit fell on lower oil prices.
