What’s new: China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (600028.SH), better known as Sinopec, reported its 2021 profit surged between 103% and 122% to as much as 72.9 billion yuan ($11.5 billion) as oil prices rose and the economy improved, the company said late Thursday.
“We've achieved the highest net profit contributed to the parent company in the past 10 years,” the state-owned oil giant said in an exchange filing (link in Chinese), citing rising crude oil prices and growing demand for oil products, amid an improving domestic economy.
Background: Brent crude oil — a global benchmark — traded at an average spot price of $71 per barrel in 2021, the highest in three years, figures from data platform Refinitiv showed.
PetroChina Co. Ltd. (601857.SH), the listed unit of another state-run oil giant, forecast that its net profit soared as much as 395% to 94 billion yuan in 2021, according to an exchange filing (link in Chinese) earlier this month. PetroChina also expected its annual revenue to hit a seven-year high, and attributed the bumper performance to similar reasons as Sinopec.
In the latest Global Economic Prospects, the World Bank forecast that average crude oil prices would continue to climb this year.
Contact reporter Manyun Zou (manyunzou@caixin.com) and editor Heather Mowbray (hearthermowbray@caixin.com)
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