BEIJING, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) announced Sunday that its net profits in the first half of 2007 rose by 65.3 percent from the same period of last year to 34.9 billion yuan.

According to the Chinese Accounting Standard for Business Enterprises, Sinopec's operating income in the first half of this year was 566.8 billion yuan, representing an increase of 15.4 percent over the first half of 2006.

Sinopec attributed the rise of the net profit to lower prices of crude oil and higher prices of chemical products in the domestic market.

In the first half of 2007, Sinopec achieved a new record in both oil and gas production, with 144 million barrels of crude oil and 140 billion cubic feet of natural gas, representing a yea-on-year increase of 2.12 percent and 10.58 percent respectively.

Listed in Hong Kong, New York, London and Shanghai, Sinopec is the largest oil refiner of China.