By Yvonne Lee

Last Update: 8/28/2011 06:22:38 AM

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (SNP) , or Sinopec, said Sunday that its first-half net profit rose 12% due to stronger contribution from its oil-production business.

The company, Asia's largest refiner in terms of capacity, said its net profit for the six months ended June 30 was CNY41.17 billion ($6.44 billion), up from CNY36.80 billion a year earlier, according to international accounting standards

The result was above the average CNY31.0 billion forecast of six analysts.

First-half revenue rose 32% to CNY1,233.3 billion from CNY937.7 billion.