Photo taken on July 30, 2020 shows the Kantan No.3 offshore oil platform in the northern waters of the South China Sea.
BEIJING, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- China's top three state-owned oil refiners, namely, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), PetroChina Company Limited (PetroChina) and CNOOC Limited suffered a lot in the first half of 2020, as the oil price collapse and the soft fuel demand dented their revenues.
Sinopec and PetroChina reported net losses totaling more than 52.8 billion yuan (about 7.71 billion U.S. dollars). CNOOC Limited was the only one earning profits in the first half with its net profit standing at 10.38 billion yuan, but the figure was down 65.7 percent year on year, according to their filings to the stock exchanges.
Sinopec secured an operating income of 1,034.25 billion yuan, down 31 percent year on year. Its net profit attributable to shareholders plunged to the negative territory, at minus 22.88 billion yuan, compared with that of 30.45 billion yuan in the first half of last year.
PetroChina said that its net loss reached 29.99 billion yuan, down 205.5 percent year on year.
PetroChina achieved a sales revenue of 66.34 billion and a net profit of 10.38 billion yuan, down nearly 30 percent and 65.7 percent, respectively.
It is worth noting that the three oil giants saw an improvement in their business performance in the second quarter, thanks to the effective epidemic control and the consumption recovery on the domestic market.
Compared with its net loss of 16.23 billion yuan in the first quarter, PetroChina saw its loss in the second quarter narrow, indicating improving business performance.
Affected by factors such as COVID-19 outbreak and the international economic situation, the international oil prices are expected to fluctuate at a low level, noted by the three companies in their filings. (Edited by Li Shimeng, Hu Pingchao with Xinhua Silk Road, hupingchao@xinhua.org)
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