Big five petrochemical giant’s profit growth exceeded 40% in April

Affected by the low crude oil prices in the international market and a slight rebound in domestic demand for refined oil products. Yesterday, the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association issued a report stating that in April, the profits of five companies, including CNPC, Sinopec, CNOOC, Sinochem, and Shaanxi Yanchang, totaled 27.142 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 44.8%; and the main business revenue totaled 207.72 billion yuan. A year-on-year decrease of 28%. However, the association is not optimistic about the short-term warming up of the market and believes that the overall situation of the market outlook has not changed.
According to the analysis report, in April, the national oil and chemical industry experienced a low level of consolidation and the decline narrowed; some petrochemical product prices rebounded in the chain; some bulk product demand showed signs of expansion; the chemical industry investment growth was stable.
Feng Shiliang, the deputy secretary-general of the association, said in an interview yesterday that the drop in revenue but the increase in profits was due to the fact that after the reform of the refined oil pricing mechanism this year, the profit of oil refining rose faster. In addition, the international crude oil prices are low, and the profits tax paid for crude oil production also fell sharply year-on-year. According to statistics, the profit of Sinopec, which represents the refining sector, rose by 48.4% in April.
The rebound in the market has also boosted the profits of various companies. According to statistics from relevant authorities, the sales of refined oil in April reached 17.314 million tons, a record high since the beginning of the year and an increase of 5.2% from the previous month; the country's refined oil inventories fell by 15.4%. In addition, in the first three months, the apparent consumption of domestic agrochemicals and some petrochemical products continued to increase year-on-year.
At the same time, the market recovery has also stimulated the recovery of prices. According to the statistics of the China Petrochemical Association, in April, the price index of 1148 kinds of petrochemical products, the price index rose 458 kinds of chain, the price of energy, organic chemical raw materials, synthetic materials and other products went up. Among them, the monthly average price of 0# diesel oil rose by 3.1% month-on-month; the average price of 93# unleaded gasoline rose by 3.9% month-on-month.
However, Sinopec Association believes that it is unlikely that there will be a substantial expansion of domestic market demand in the short term. Statistics show that in the first quarter, the apparent domestic oil consumption fell by 7.2% year-on-year, of which the apparent consumption of crude oil fell by 6.9%.
For the profits of the petrochemical industry this year, analysts have given many uncertain expectations, because market demand and international crude oil prices are fluctuating.