Sinopec could swing back to red

Sinopec Corp outperformed bigger rival PetroChina in terms of annual crude output growth and increase in oil refining during the first half of 2007. But the top Asian refiner is likely to witness losses with its refining arm in the second quarter, analysts say.

"The growth pace of Sinopec's crude production surpasses a PetroChina's from January to June, proving the major refiner is paying more attention to upstream exploration and production. But because of soaring global oil prices since the second quarter of this year, Sinopec may suffer net losses again from its refining business," said Yin Xiaodong, an oil analyst at CITIC Securities Co.

Agreed Liu Gu, a senior energy analyst with Guotai Jun'an Securities. But because of its decent first-quarter refining profit, the result of Sinopec's refining business in the first half of this year may not be in the red, Liu said.