Sinopec Lifts First-Half Profit 27.4%, Sets Payout Ratio at 49.5%

Sinopec reported total profit of CNY 36.6 billion for the first half on August 24, up 27.4% year on year, and set its interim dividend at CNY 0.105 per share for a cash payout ratio of 49.5%. Net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent rose 19.3% to CNY 25.6 billion.

Revenue for the six months reached CNY 1,436.6 billion under Chinese accounting standards.

The distribution decision came from the board alongside the results. Sinopec also said it has run share buybacks on domestic and overseas markets for five consecutive years, framing the programme as a defence of enterprise value and shareholder interests.

Upstream volumes underpinned the earnings line. Oil and gas equivalent output reached 263.47 million barrels of oil equivalent, which Sinopec described as a record for a comparable period domestically. Domestic crude output was 127.68 million barrels and natural gas production 741.570 billion cubic feet.

Refining throughput totalled 113 million tonnes of crude, yielding 69.16 million tonnes of refined petroleum products. Total refined product sales came to 100.99 million tonnes, of which 79 million tonnes went to the Chinese domestic market.

Chemicals told a different story from the domestic barrel. Ethylene output reached 6.394 million tonnes and total chemical product sales 37.86 million tonnes, with exports up 70% year on year to a record high. That export figure is the sharpest growth number in the release, and it sits in the segment most exposed to international demand rather than the regulated domestic fuel channel.

On exploration, the company claimed breakthroughs in shale oil in the Bohai Bay basin, tight gas in the Sichuan basin, and offshore natural gas.

Sinopec also pointed to technology work outside the barrel. It said it achieved a breakthrough in wet-process T1000 carbon fibre and developed SHX60 high-strength, high-modulus carbon fibre. Under its artificial intelligence programme, the group released what it called the industry's first industrial intelligent agent, named Fenghuo, and said capability of its Changcheng large model continues to improve.

For investors in state-controlled majors, the payout ratio is the number that travels. Distributing close to half of earnings while sustaining a fifth straight year of buybacks places capital return, rather than volume growth, at the front of the disclosure. The dividend is set per share at CNY 0.105, and the ratio is stated as a cash payout measure rather than a target range.

The production and sales figures give the scale behind that return. A refiner processing 113 million tonnes of crude in six months and selling 100.99 million tonnes of products, with 79 million tonnes staying inside China, generates cash flow whose sensitivity runs through domestic fuel demand as much as through crude prices. The 70% jump in chemical exports adds an external demand channel to a portfolio otherwise weighted to the home market.

Upstream, the 263.47 million barrels of oil equivalent and the 741.570 billion cubic feet of gas set the base against which the Bohai Bay shale oil and Sichuan tight gas results will be measured in later disclosures.