China’s Sinopec’s interim profit down 20.1% on lower oil prices

(Reuters) – Chinese refining giant Sinopec Corp reported on Sunday a 20.1% fall in interim net profit for the first half of the year compared with the year-ago period, to 35.11 billion yuan ($4.82 billion), on lower crude prices despite higher refinery output and growth in fuel sales.

Sinopec, the world’s largest refiner by capacity, reported revenues of 1.59 trillion yuan for the six months, down 1.1% from the year earlier level.

During the period, Sinopec processed a total of 126.54 million…