Oil prices lift profit at China’s Sinopec by 40%

SHANGHAI: Asia’s biggest oil refiner Sinopec said its first-half net profit jumped more than 40.1 percent thanks to a rise in oil prices and stable growth in China’s economy, which fuelled demand for its refined products.

Sinopec -- the listed unit of state-owned China Petrochemical Corp. -- saw net profit surge to 27.92 billion yuan ($4.2 billion) in the January-June period, up from 19.92 billion yuan in the year-earlier period, it said in a statement late Sunday to the Hong Kong stock exchange, where it is listed.