Chinese refiner Sinopec says 3Q profit fell 39 pct
Major refiner China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. also known as Sinopec, reported Wednesday that its profit fell 39 percent in the third quarter due to record high costs for crude oil for a big part of that period.
The state-owned company, earned 8.2 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) in the July-September period compared to a profit of 13.4 billion yuan a year earlier.
The results reflect 11.7 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) in government subsidies to Sinopec in the third quarter for losses stemming from processing of costly crude oil imports due to Chinese domestic price controls.
In the first three quarters of the year, Sinopec recorded a total of 42 billion yuan in subsidies as income, in addition to 3 billion yuan in value-added tax refunds for refined oil products.
Those supports enabled the company to keep its oil processing facilities operating at full capacity despite mounting losses. Sinopec also boosted imports in response to heavy pressure from authorities to counter chronic fuel shortages after many independent refiners halted operations.
Sinopec said its output of refined oil products rose 11.7 percent in the first nine months of the year, compared with a year earlier.
Tags: oil-product, Sinopec