China’s Sinopec reports decline in Q1 net profit

Chinese Sinopec Corp’s net profit declined by 8.9% year-over-year to 18.32 billion yuan ($2.53 billion) in the first quarter of 2024. The company’s net profit was 20.10 billion yuan ($2.7 billion) in Q1 2023. The company attributed the fall in quarterly profits to rising raw materials costs and heating competition that hurt its petrochemical business, counterbalancing the positive impacts from higher fuel sales and oil prices.

The chemicals segment reported EBIT of 1.6 billion yuan ($221 million).

The company processed 63.3 million tons of crude oil (5.08 barrels/day), up by 1.7% year on year. Crude oil production rose 1.3% year-over-year to 70.36 million barrels.

In the first quarter, ethylene production declined by 2% to 3.279 million tons. The total chemicals sales volume was 19.51 million tons.