Sinopec Eyes Shale Boost, Debt Reduction with $17.5B Stake-Sale Cash

Sinopec has also been hurt by an overcapacity in the domestic refining industry and flagging oil demand as a result of China's economic slowdown, analysts say.

Its July-September refining profit sank to 1.3 billion yuan from 6.5 billion yuan a year ago due in part to inventory loss caused by the recent crude price falls, while profits of its oil products distribution and retail division dropped to 7.6 billion yuan from 10.1 billion yuan.

Sinopec processed 175.83 million tonnes of crude in the first nine months of this year, up less than 1 percent year on year. Its oil products sales volume totalled 138.15 million tonnes, up 2.61 percent.

Some analysts expect Sinopec to see a further recovery in its chemical business, which returned to profits in the third quarter following two quarters of losses.

Sinopec shares were up half a percent at HK$6.74 on Friday morning, but are still down nearly 15 percent over the past two months. (1 US dollar = 6.1140 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Charlie Zhu and Meg Shen; Editing by William Hardy and Muralikumar Anantharaman)


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