Hong Kong

CHINA Petroleum & Chemical Corp, the world's biggest oil refiner, posted 40 per cent growth in first-half profit amid better earnings from its chemicals business as well as a narrower loss from producing oil and gas and lower financing costs.

Net income rose to 27.9 billion yuan (S$5.7 billion) in the six months ended June 30, the Beijing-based company known as Sinopec said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Sunday. That compares with an expected 25.5 billion yuan based on the average of three estimates compiled by Bloomberg and the highest semi-annual profit since the first half of 2014. Revenue climbed 33 per cent to 1.17 trillion yuan.