OREANDA-NEWS.May 05, 2012. China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (“Sinopec” or “the Company”) (CH:600028;HKEX:386;NYSE: SNP;LSE: SNP) announced its unaudited first quarter results for the three months ended 31 March, 2012, reported the press-centre of Sinopec.

Financial Highlights:
? In accordance with the PRC Accounting Standards for Business Enterprises (“ASBE”), in the first quarter of 2012, the Company’s operating income increased by 14% year-on-year to RMB671.365 billion. Net profit attributable to equity holders of the company decreased by 37.42% year-on-year to RMB12.829 billion and the basic earnings per share was RMB0.148. In accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), in the first quarter of 2012, the Company’s turnover, other operating revenues and other income amounted to RMB671.365 billion, increased by 14% over the same period last year. Operating profit amounted to RMB21.81 billion in the first quarter, and net profit attributable to the shareholders of the company amounted to RMB13.41 billion, down by 35.04% from the same period last year. Basic earnings per share was RMB0.154.

Within Sinopec’s fully integrated businesses, exploration & production business recorded a significant growth in operating profit and marketing & distribution segment’s profitability remained stable. Due to the record high international crude oil price since 2008 financial crisis and domestic tight control over the price of refined oil products, refining segment recorded serious operating losses. At the same time, under the impact of factors such as the rise in the price of chemical raw materials such as naphtha and sluggish price of global chemical products, the operating profit of chemicals segment decreased. Even the refining segment recorded significant operating losses, in order to ensure market supply of oil products, oil refining facilities of the Company are under full-load operation, providing customers and farmers with high quality oil products and services.

 Business Highlights:
? Exploration and Production Segment - The Company recorded solid growth in the output of crude oil and natural gas. Crude oil output amounted to 81.53 million barrels, an increase of 4.47% from the same period last year. Natural gas output amounted to 143.18 billion cubic feet, an increase of 11.77% over the same period last year.
? Refining Segment - The throughput of crude oil amounted to 55.4104 million tons, an increase of 2.13% over the same period last year. The output of refined oil amounted to 32.8676 million tons, an increase of 5.01% over the same period last year.

Marketing and Distribution Segment - Domestic sales of refined oil increased by 3.20% over the same period last year to 38.265 million tons. Of this, retail sales accounted for 26.185 million tons, an increase of 8.40% from the same period last year.

Chemicals Segment - In the first quarter, the output of ethylene and synthetic resin totaled 2.4551 million tons and 3.4316 million tons respectively, a decrease of 3.86% and 2.14% respectively from the same period last year.

Capital expenditure for the first quarter of 2012 amounted to around RMB18.388 billion.

In the first quarter of 2012, China’s economic growth rate began to slow, with the year-on-year GDP growth rate falling to 8.1%. With a range of factors, including geopolitical developments, contributing to the record high international crude oil price since 2008 financial crisis, domestic demand for refined oil and chemical products increased, albeit at slow rate. During the quarter, the Company made important progress in a number of key strategic areas. These include optimizing the product mix, expanding the market to increase turnover, highlighting production safety, and promoting energy-saving initiatives and emissions reduction, and as a result, the output of oil and gas, the volume of processed crude oil and sales volume of petroleum products have achieved relatively steady increase. Under the impact of negative factors such as domestic tight control over the price of oil products, refining segment recorded serious operating losses. At the same time, affected by the rise in the price of chemical raw materials such as naphtha and sluggish price of global chemical products, the operating profit of chemicals segment decreased. Operating profit amounted to RMB21.81 billion in the first quarter, and net profit attributable to the shareholders of the Company amounted to RMB13.406 billion, down by 28.99% and 35.04% respectively from the same period last year.