China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (600028.SS), reported an 11.8% fall in first-quarter net income, hit by lower crude oil prices, though refined fuel sales improved after Beijing removed COVID-19 controls.
Asia's top oil refiner, also known as Sinopec, reported 20.1 billion yuan ($2.90 billion) net profit under Chinese accounting standards, versus 22.61 billion yuan a year earlier, in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Thursday.
Refinery throughput slipped 3% from a year ago to 62.24 million tonnes, or about 5.05 million barrels per day (bpd), with gasoline output falling 8% year on year and diesel down 0.9%, the company said.
Total refined fuel sales, however, were up 10% in the first quarter, reflecting recovering demand for gasoline and aviation fuel as more people travelled after the lifting of COVID controls in late 2022.
The company's petrochemicals arm, however, remained in the doldrums with ethylene production down 7.2% on the year. The division reported a 3.02 billion yuan loss before tax and interest.
Crude oil production edged up 0.6% to 69.49 million barrels while natural gas output expanded by 5.3% to 330.5 billion cubic feet.
Capital expenditure was 23.4 billion yuan, down from 25.38 billion yuan a year earlier. About 64% of the spending was in the exploration and development sector including shale oil, which is more difficult to extract.
($1 = 6.9211 Chinese yuan renminbi)
