Sinopec posts record quarterly profit as refining margins jump

Beijing

TOP Asian oil refiner Sinopec Corp swung to a record quarterly profit in July-September, thanks to a jump in refining margins and earnings from the spin-off of pipeline assets, the company said.

The firm's third-quarter net income nearly quadrupled from a year ago to 46.39 billion yuan (S$9.4 billion), Sinopec said, after reporting losses in the first half of this year. That's the highest quarterly profit, according to Refinitiv Eikon data going back to 2003.

Sinopec's refinery crude throughput rose nearly 2 per cent year on year to 63.5 million tonnes (5.04 million barrels per day) as it started up a 200,000 barrel-per-day refinery in the city of Zhanjiang.

Refining margins jumped 68 per cent from last year to US$9.80 per barrel, while fuel sales at home were at 45.44 million tonnes, up 0.4 per cent from the previous quarter. Revenues from transferring the vast oil and gas pipeline assets to the country's newly formed energy infrastructure giant PipeChina contributed 30.8 billion yuan to the Q3 profit, Sinopec said.

The company also cut losses on liquefied natural gas imports by four billion yuan as it boosted spot purchases at low prices during the January-September period, a Sinopec executive said on Thursday. REUTERS