Sinopec, China's top refiner, said Sunday its net profit in the first half of this year edged up 6.7 percent to reach 35.46 billion yuan (5.2 billion U.S. dollars) from a year earlier.

In a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, Chairman Su Sulin said Sinopec's turnover and other operating revenues amounted to 936.5 billion yuan, and the operating profit was 49.8 billion yuan, representing an increase of 75.4 percent and 7.8 percent respectively, over the same period of 2009.

The Beijing-based company attributed "encouraging operational results" in the first half to steady progress of China's economic recovery, growing demand for petroleum and petrochemical products, continued expansion of Sinopec's operational scale and rising prices of crude oil, refined oil products and chemical products.

According to the statement, Sinopec's refinery throughput reached 101 million tonnes in the first half, representing an increase of 16.7 percent year on year.

The refining segment and marketing and distribution segment achieved external sales revenue of 567 billion yuan, an increase of 59.7 percent year on year. The two segments accounted for 60.5 percent of Sinopec's turnover and other operating revenues, it said.

In the exploration and production (E&P) segment, Sinopec produced 149 million barrels of crude oil, flat from a year earlier, and produced 200.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas, an increase of 40.7 percent year on year, it said. (1 U.S. dollar equals 6.79 yuan)