China’s Sinopec posts 29.4% decrease in 2014 net profit

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–China’s biggest refiner Sinopec posted a net profit of yuan (CNY) 47.4bn in 2014, a decrease of 29.4% over 2013, amid the slowdown of Chinese economic growth, the company said on Sunday.

Its revenue fell by 1.9% year on year to CNY2,825.9bn in 2014, and operating profits slumped by 32.1% to CNY65.5bn, according to a company statement.

The operating revenue of its upstream exploration and production segment dropped by 6% to CNY227.6bn, because of falling crude prices, and its operating profits of this segment fell by 14.1% to CNY47.1bn, it said.

Its oil and gas productions in 2014 were 480.2m barrels of oil equivalent (boe), up by 8.4% year on year.

The refining segment posted an operating revenue of CNY1,273bn, down by 2.9% over 2012, and the company suffered an operating loss of about CNY2bn last year due to the plummeting international oil prices since the second half of 2014, it said.

Sinopec processed around 235m tonnes of crude oil last year, 1.5% more than in 2013. This yielded 146.2m tonnes of oil products such as gasoline, diesel and kerosene, up by 4.2% from the previous year.

Its marketing and distribution business generated an operating profit of CNY29.4bn, down by 16.2% from 2013.

On the chemical side, its operating earnings shrank by 2.3% to CNY427.5bn as a result of falling chemical products prices, and the company incurred an operating loss of about CNY2.2bn last year.

Its ethylene production in 2014 reached 10.7m tonnes, up by 7.2% over 2013.

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