MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec posted a 42.4% decline in net profit last year as the coronavirus pandemic hit demand and caused sharp falls in petrochemical prices, said Reuters.
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, better known as Sinopec, plans a 23.8% increase in capital spending to 167.2 billion yuan in 2021 following recovery of oil prices and energy demand as the COVID-19 epidemic subsided.
Sinopec expects to spend 66.8 billion yuan on upstream exploration focusing on shale gas development in southwest China and construction of liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in coastal areas, up from 56.4 billion yuan last year.
The company on Sunday also reported a 42.9% drop in net profit to 32.92 billion yuan last year, the lowest since 2015, as the pandemic dented fuel consumption amid months-long lockdowns.
In That just beat analysts’ forecast for net profit of 32.3 billion yuan, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
In 2020, Sinopec’s crude oil throughput fell 4.7% from a year earlier to 236.91 million tonnes, with gasoline and diesel output down 7.7% and 4.3%, respectively, while kerosene production plunged 34.6%.
Its crude oil production was 280.22 million barrels in 2020, down 1.4% year-on-year, and natural gas output at 1,072.3 billion cubic feet, was up 2.3% from 2019.
As per MRC, Sinopec Maoming Petrochemical Company, part of Sinopec, has delayed the turnaround at its No. 2 low density polyethylene (LDPE) unit in Guangdong, China until 24 March. Initially the company intended to take off-stream its 250,000 tons/year No. 2 LDPE unit on 15 March, 2021. However, Sinopec Maoming Petrochemical decided to delay the shutdown slighlty. The outage is expected to last for 63 days.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, January estimated LDPE consumption in Russia grew to 61,210 tonnes from 43,090 tonnes a year earlier. Russian producers increased their capacity utilisation, and export LDPE shipments decreased. Russia's estimated LDPE consumption was about 563,730 tonnes in 2020, up by 1% year on year.
Sinopec corp. is one of the world's largest integrated energy and chemical companies. Business Sinopec Corp. includes oil and gas exploration, production and transportation of oil and gas, oil refining, petrochemical production, production of mineral fertilizers and other chemical products. In terms of refining capacity, Sinopec Corp. ranks second in the world, in terms of ethylene capacity - fourth.
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