SINGAPORE (Reuters) – China Petroleum (OTC:) and Chemical Corp (Sinopec (OTC:)), Asia’s largest refiner, on Friday reported first-half crude throughput little changed year on year.
The state refining giant processed 126.69 million metric tons of , about 5.08 million barrels per day (bpd), up 0.1% from the same period last year, it said in a stock market filing.
That compared with 1.7% growth in the first quarter, indicating a slowdown in processing in the second quarter as higher crude prices and tepid domestic fuel demand weighed.
While the group’s gasoline and aviation fuel output expanded 6.6% and 15.2% year on year respectively, diesel production fell 8.8%, reflecting poor demand for the main transportation and industrial fuel in a sluggish economy.
Total domestic refined fuel sales slipped 2.5% year on year to 90.14 million tons, including 56.96 million tons of retail sales that were down 4.7%, the refiner added.
Sinopec earlier reported a 0.6% annual growth in its crude oil output for the period and output up 6%.