Sinopec Profit Gain Tops PetroChina on Smaller Refining Loss

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., Asia’s biggest refiner, used crude from its stockpiles to keep oil costs in check as it ramped up fuel production to meet demand in the world’s second-largest economy.

The Hong Kong-listed company known as Sinopec said yesterday first-quarter profit rose 25 percent from a year earlier to 20.6 billion yuan ($3.2 billion). That beat the 19.9 billion-yuan median estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg and surpassed rival PetroChina Co.’s 14 percent gain.