China oil giant Sinopec posts 44% jump in net profit

State- owned Chinese energy major Sinopec said 2016 net profit jumped 44 percent, its first annual profit rise in three years, as strong demand and better margins in its downstream refining business helped offset low oil prices.

Sinopec—a listed unit of China Pet to 46.7 billion yuan ($6.8 billion), it to the Hong Kong stock exchange, where it is listed.

- percent in both 2015 and 2014.

Sinopec president Dai Houliang said one reason for the “better-thanexpected” results is that “demand for chemicals grew steadily”.

While the upstream business was sluggish owing to low international crude oil prices, the downstream re- - held steady, and “grew steadily” for chemicals, Dai said.

In a separate statement, Sinopec

“Lower crude prices really helped Sinopec’s margins last year,” Tian Miao, a Beijing- based analyst at - berg News.

“Sinopec may continue to ben - mand growth, especially gasoline. The risk for Sinopec going forward is that crude prices rise too high and too fast as higher upstream margins wouldn’t be enough to

was up 0.65 percent in Hong Kong but down 1.21 percent in Shanghai, where it is also listed.