Net profit at Sinopec Corp., Asia's biggest oil refiner, rose 5.5 percent to 56. 53 billion yuan (8.1 billion U.S. dollars) in 2007, said the company on Sunday.

The company's turnover, other operating revenues and other income were more than 1.2 trillion yuan (171.4 billion U.S. dollars), up 13.4 percent, said a statement of the company.

The board of the company has approved the proposal to declare a full-year dividend of 0.165 yuan per share in cash. After deducting the interim cash dividend, the final cash dividend per share for distribution would be 0.115 yuan, according to the statement.

Su Shulin, president of the company, said despite rising international crude oil costs and government controls on fuel prices, Sinopec had made fairly good profits by promoting technological innovations, maintaining safe production and advocating energy-saving and emission-reducing measures.

In 2007, the company's newly added proved reserve of oil and gas reached 647 million barrels of oil equivalent. Crude oil output was 290 million barrels and natural gas 282.6 billion cubic feet, up 2.3 percent and 10.2 percent respectively. Meanwhile, the company was planning to speed construction of a project to pipe gas from southwest Sichuan Province to the eastern regions.

The company processed 156 million tons of crude oil in 2007, up 6.3 percent over 2006. The total production of refined oil products reached 93.9 million tons, representing an increase of 6.7 percent.

Its sales volume of refined oil products rose 6.9 percent to 119 million tons, of which retail volume was 76.62 million tons, up 6.2 percent year on year.

Partly driven by increasing domestic demand for chemical products, the company's ethylene production rose 6.0 percent to 6.53 million tons. It sold 29.85 million tons of chemical products, an increase of one percent over 2006.

The company planned to produce 42 million tons of crude oil, 9 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 6.72 million tons of ethylene in 2008. It would process 174 million tons of crude oil for 2008. Its production of refined oil products would reach 104 million tons.

For sales, the company planned to achieve a total domestic refined oil product sales volume of 124 million tons in 2008.

(Xinhua News Agency April 7, 2008)