China's Sinopec posts 6.9% drop in 2022 net income

131
2
China's Sinopec posts 6.9% drop in 2022 net income

China Petroleum Chemical Corp, better known as Sinopec Corp, recorded a 6.9 per cent decline in net income for 2022, as Chinese fuel demand fell due to Beijing's COVID 19 control measures and consumption of petrochemicals.

A year ago, the top Asian oil refiner said in a stock market filing that 66.3 billion yuan $9.65 billion was based on Chinese accounting standards, compared to 2021's 71.21 billion yuan.

The Chinese demand for natural gas, petrochemicals and refined oil products was lackingluster in 2022 due to multiple factors, according to Sinopec.

China's rigid COVID measures hammered transportation fuel consumption, as Sinopec recorded a 11 per cent decline and 18.4 per cent decline over the last year over 2021 in gasoline and aviation fuel sales.

The refiner reported 4 per cent growth in sales of diesel fuel thanks to a policy shift towards late 2022 to boost refined fuel exports.

The state oil and gas major plans to make 280.23 million barrels of crude oil and 12,918 billion cubic feet of natural gas by the year 2023.

The firm said that the Crude throughput at Sinopec is expected to reach 250 million barrels per day, or about 5 million barrels per day, but it didn't give a figure for 2022.

The Chinese economy is expected to recover in 2023, as it's expected to lift domestic demand for natural gas, refined fuel and chemicals, the company said, adding that global oil prices are likely to stay elevated due to geopolitics and inventory levels.

The firm didn't provide a figure for actual expenditure in 2022.

Sinopec aims to raise up to 12 billion yuan in private placement in A-share to fund five projects such as the third phase expansion of Tianjin liquefied natural gas terminal and several fine chemicals projects in Maoming and Zhanjiang.

In 2022, Sinopec set aside 12.7 billion yuan for asset impairment.