Sinopec Net Profit Plungs Almost 50 pct

China's Sinopec Corp, Asia's largest refiner, posted a 47.8 percent fall in net profits in the first nine months of the year, as oil prices fell.

The state-controlled company's net profit was 27.0 billion yuan ($4.25 billion), compared to 51.8 billion yuan a year earlier, it said in a filing with the Shanghai bourse. The company plans to cut back operations at its refineries by around 5 percent in the fourth quarter compared with the first half of the year as fuel inventories rise and demand for diesel slows, industry sources told Reuters. Operating profit at the exploration and production business reported an operating loss of 3.4 billion yuan, as crude oil production fell 2.4 percent, Sinopec said in the filing, without providing a production figure.
 

The refining business made an operating profit of 14.9 billion yuan, up 34.3 percent on year, while the marketing division had an operating profit of 21.5 billion yuan, down 18.7 percent on year.
 

The chemicals division had a net operating profit of 15.0 billion yuan, compared to a loss of 18.5 billion yuan during the same period last year.
 

In 2014, Sinopec reported a worse than expected fourth-quarter net loss of 5.3 billion yuan - its first quarterly loss since becoming a public company in 2000.
 

Reporting By Adam Rose