China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) has denied a report that it would probably suffer losses in the first two quarters due to high crude prices, the China Securities Journal reported on Friday.

"Such reports are groundless and untrue," an unnamed company official was quoted as saying in reference to an article in Thursday's 21st Century Business Herald.

Refining business undoubtedly lost money, but that was not the case for the whole company, he said.

"Sinopec's oil and gas exploitation, gas stations and chemical segments are very profitable."

It was also untrue that Sinopec booked a January profit of only one billion yuan (140.8 million U.S. dollars), about a sixth or a seventh of the level in the same month of the past two years, he said.

But he recognized that profits in the first quarter declined compared with the year-earlier period. Sinopec is scheduled to release its first quarter financial results in late April.

"The company's refining profitability depends on the market condition and the national policy," he said. "The current 110 U.S. dollars per barrel on the international market is an appalling price."

The journal also quoted Sinopec vice general manager Zhou Yuan as saying that the company lose 2,000 yuan over sales of every ton of gasoline when international crude prices stood at 100 U.S. dollars per barrel.

Sinopec reported a net profit of 49.8 billion yuan in the first three quarters of 2007. But its refineries lost money in the third quarter because it was unable to reflect rises in international oil prices in government-controlled domestic selling prices.

Sinopec, Asia's biggest refinery by output, takes 80 percent of China's imported crude oil and produces 70 percent of the country's refined oil.

The government gave it a subsidy of five billion yuan last year to compensate for losses in 2006 from low domestic refined oil prices.

Sinopec tumbled 2.78 percent to 14.34 yuan in the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Thursday and another 3.91 percent to 13.78 yuan in the morning session on Friday.

(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2008)