Sinopec’s first-half profits shrank amid lower oil prices and fuel demand being weighed down by China’s sluggish economic recovery, reports the South China Morning Post. China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, as it’s officially known, posted net income of RMB 36.12 billion ($4.96 billion), according to international financial reporting standards. That compared with a revised RMB 44.8 billion 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.