FUEL AND CHEMICALS
Chinese energy giant Sinopec pays record dividend
Net income for the world’s biggest refiner climbs to $8.1bn
China Petroleum & Chemical, the world’s biggest refiner, will pay a record dividend as its massive fuel and chemical segments helped it post a nearly 10% increase in full-year profit. Net income climbed to 51.2-billion yuan ($8.1bn), the company known as Sinopec said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Sunday. The company proposed a 0.5 yuan per share total dividend for 2017, the most since its Hong Kong listing in 2000 and above a forecast of 0.17 yuan in data compiled by Bloomberg. It also flagged 22-billion yuan in impairments, mostly relating to its upstream assets. While oil’s rally has helped Sinopec cut losses in its production and exploration segment, its refining and chemicals units have helped it ride out the volatility of oil’s earlier crash as margins from making fuels and petrochemicals improve. "It just shows how difficult it was for Sinopec to make a profit in oil and gas production, even as oil prices were edging towards $60 a barrel," said Anna Yu, a Ho...
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