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Sinopec's 1H18 Profit Surges Y/Y Backed by Chemical Segment

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China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation , also known as Sinopec, reported net profit of 42.4 billion yuan ($6.65 billion) or 0.350 yuan per share in the first half of 2018. The bottom line surpassed the year-ago profit level of 27.9 billion yuan ($4.06 billion) or 0.231 yuan. The improvement can be attributed to outstanding performance in the Chemicals segment. Moreover, increase in natural gas volumes also contributed to growth.
 

Dividend

The Board of Directors declared an interim dividend of 0.16 yuan per share, an increase of 60% from the year earlier period.

Operational Performance

Exploration and Production: During the first half of 2018, Sinopec’s crude oil production fell1.6% year over year to 143.63 million barrels. Nonetheless, natural gas volumes increased 5.3% year over year to 476.2 billion cubic feet. Domestic crude oil production inched up 0.4% year over year to 123.68 million barrels, while overseas volumes fell 12.6% year over year to 19.95 million barrels. Total oil and gas production inched up 1.4% year over year to 224.59 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Refining: The company’s Refining business recorded a 2.5% year-over-year growth in refinery throughput to 120.72 million tons. It also produced approximately 76.37 million tons of petroleum products, up 3% from the prior-year period’s levels.

Marketing and Distribution: The segment sold 96.48 million tons of refined oil products, down 2.1% year over year.

Chemicals: The segment recorded an operating profit of 15.8 billion yuan during the first half of 2018, up 29.7% year over year.

Capital Expenditure

Capital expenditures totaled 23.687 billion yuan. Of this, 10.762 billion yuan was spent on exploration and production projects. Sinopec spent 4.61 billion yuan on the Refining segment, while the Chemical Business segment was allocated 2.635 billion yuan. The company had set aside 5.373 billion yuan for the Marketing and Distribution segment.

A total of 307 million yuan was used for Corporate and Other purposes, such as construction of R&D facilities and IT projects.

Q2 Price Performance

Sinopec has outperformed the industry in the past year. The company’s shares have gained 1.5%, against the industry's 10.1% decline.



 

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Sinopec currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

A few better-ranked players in the same sector are Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (PBR - Free Report) , or Petrobras SA, Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc (HLX - Free Report) and TC Pipelines, LP . All these stocks flaunt a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Petrobras is the largest integrated energy firm in Brazil and one of the major players in Latin America. It pulled off an average positive earnings surprise of 10.4% in the last four quarters.

Helix Energy offers specialty services to the offshore energy industry. The company delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 66.7% in the trailing four quarters.

TC Pipelines purchases, owns and actively participates in the management of U.S.-based natural gas pipelines and related assets. The company delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 3.7% in the last four quarters.

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