Sinopec's third-quarter profit jumps 57% on higher oil prices, refining margins

By Sam Li and Chen Aizhu

Oct 29 (Reuters) - China's Sinopec Corp reported a 57.2% year-on-year gain in its third-quarter net profits on Thursday as improved refining margins and higher crude oil prices offset weaker fuel demand.

The world's biggest refiner by capacity said its net income amounted to 13.36 billion yuan ($2.01 billion) during the July-September period, while net profit for the first nine months was 38.99 billion yuan, up 30%.

Sinopec processed 167.37 million metric tons of crude oil during the nine-month period, or about 4.48 million barrels per day (bpd), down 10.2% on the year.

Diesel led the decline in production, down 9.2% year-on-year, while gasoline fell 6.4% and jet fuel was down 5.9%.

Sales of refined fuels fell 11.4% during the period to 151.91 million metric tons. Of that, domestic sales accounted for 118.90 million tons, down 10.7%.

Despite the fall in sales, the refining sector recorded earnings before interest and tax of 30.10 billion yuan in the first nine months, versus 7 billion yuan a year earlier.

Ethylene output dropped 19% and the company's chemicals segment incurred a 1.69 billion yuan loss before interest and tax during the same period, narrowing from the previous year's loss of 8.22 billion yuan.

China's refined fuel consumption fell 8.6% year-on-year in the first nine months as soaring oil prices and an accelerating shift to alternative energy dampened demand, Sinopec said.

China's natural gas consumption edged up 0.1%, while ethylene-equivalent consumption fell 9.4% amid weak chemical demand.

Sinopec's crude oil production edged down 0.1% on year to 210.99 million barrels during the first three quarters, while natural gas was up 1.4% at 1,115.21 billion cubic feet.

Capital spending for the first nine months rose to 74.5 billion yuan, up from 71.6 billion yuan a year earlier.

Exploration and development accounted for 56.8% of the spending, including oil projects in Jiyang in east China and Tahe in the northwest, as well as natural gas projects in Sichuan and Chongqing.

Sinopec's Hong Kong-listed shares have fallen 1.93% this year through Thursday's close, compared with a 10.42% decline in the Hang Seng index.

($1 = 6.6610 Chinese yuan renminbi)