Sinopec 2013 Profit Up 4%, Sees Lowers Capital Expenditure In 2014

(RTTNews) - China's largest oil refiner China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (SNP) on Monday reported a 4 percent increase in profit for fiscal 2013 from the prior year, as results were boosted by a profit at the company's refining segment. Looking ahead, the company lowered its capital expenditure outlook for fiscal 2014 by 4 percent from the prior year.

The Beijing-based company, popularly known as Sinopec, said its profit attributable to equity shareholders of the company for the year ended 31 December 2013 was RMB66.13 billion or RMB0.534 per share, compared to RMB63.88 billion or RMB0.545 per share in the prior year. In dollar terms, the company's profit for the year was $10.64 billion.

The company's turnover, other operating revenues and other income for the year grew 3 percent to RMB2.88 trillion from RMB2.79 trillion in the previous year.

Sinopec's exploration and production segment recorded a 22 percent decline in operating profit from last year to RMB54.79 billion, primarily due to a 6.6 percent decrease in crude oil price. However, oil and gas production for the year rose 3.5 percent to 442.84 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Sinopec's refining segment's operating profit was RMB8.60 billion, compared to operating loss of RMB11.44 billion last year. The company said its refinery throughput rose 4.8 percent to 231.95 million tons.

Chemicals segment's operating profit decreased 26 percent from the prior year to RMB868 million, mainly due to a drop in the prices of chemical products, other than basis chemical products and synthetic resin, compared to the prior year.

Operating profit of the company's marketing and distribution division declined 18 percent to RMB35.1 billion.

Sinopec's board of directors proposed a final cash dividend of RMB0.15 per share. Combined with the interim dividend of RMB0.09 per share, the total annual cash dividend for 2013 is RMB0.24 per share.

Looking ahead to 2014, Sinopec forecasts its capital expenditure of RMB161.6 billion, down from capital expenditures of RMB168.6 billion in 2013.

Sinopec said that in 2014, it expects crude oil supply to be in glut and also expects international oil prices to show some weakness while fluctuating within a high price range.

SNP closed Friday's trading on the NYSE at $86.26, up $2.71 or 3.24 percent on a volume of 715,951 shares.