MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec posted a net profit increase of 148.5% in the first nine months amid strengthening crude and firming products demand, the company said.
In accordance with IFRS, net profit attributable to shareholders of the Company was RMB 60.755 billion, increased 148.5%. Basic earnings per share were RMB 0.502. In accordance with CASs, the Company's operating income in the first three quarters was RMB 2.0034 trillion, up by 29.0% year on year. Net profit attributable to equity shareholders of the Company reached RMB 59.892 billion.
During the first three quarters, the Company achieved good performance in operation and profitability. Oil and gas production, refinery throughput, total domestic sales volume of refined oil products and total chemical products sales volume recorded year on year increase. Operating profit was RMB 84.806 billion, representing a year on year increase of 1578.3%.
In accordance with IFRS, the Company's liability-to-asset ratio as of 30 September 2021 was51.78%, maintaining a sound financial position.Net cash generated from operating activities up by 37.4% year on year. Cash and cash equivalents amounted to RMB 203.955billion(including time deposits) as at 30 September 2021.
In the first three quarters of 2021, as the world economy gradually picked up, China's economy kept a sustainable and steady recovery, registering a GDP growth of 9.8% year-on-year among which up by 4.9% in the third quarter. In the first three quarters the average spot price of Platts Brent was USD67.73 per barrel, up by 65.9% year-on-year. Domestic demand for natural gas continued to grow rapidly, with an apparent consumption up by 16.6% year-on-year. Domestic demand for refined oil products recovered steadily and demand for major chemicals sustainedstable.
As MRC informed before, in August, 2021, Sinopec, the world's petrochemical major, launched the first phase of the Gulei refining complex in Zhangzhou city in China’s southeastern Fujian province. The refining complex, a 50:50 joint venture between Sinopec’s Fujian Petrochemical Company Ltd and Taiwan Xuteng Investment Company Ltd, invested 27.8 billion yuan (USD4.28 billion) in the first phase. That will result in an 800,000 tonnes per annum ethylene plant, a 600,000 tonnes per annum styrene unit and seven other downstream petrochemical units, Sinopec said.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia"s estimated PE consumption totalled 1,396,960 tonnes in January-July 2021, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 841,990 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 29% year on year.
China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) is a super-large petroleum and petrochemical enterprise group established in July 1998 on the basis of the former China Petrochemical Corporation. Sinopec Group's key business activities include the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, petrochemicals and other chemical products, oil refining.
MRC