Sinopec denies Xinhua report of $9.6 bln 07 profit

BEIJING, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Sinopec Corp on Friday denied a report by China's official Xinhua news agency that its 2007 net profit had surged to 70 billion yuan ($9.6 billion), saying it was still doing accounts and did not have a final figure.

Sinopec's (0386.HK)(SNP.N) investor relations chief Huang Wensheng dismissed the Xinhua report, based on an interview with a senior official and published late on Thursday, as groundless.

"This is untrue. Sinopec is auditing its financial results and final figures will be revealed in late March or early April," he said.

He added that the executive quoted, Senior Vice President Cai Xiyou, was currently enrolled at the central government's party school and not up to date on the latest company data.

The Xinhua report also put 2006 net profit slightly lower than previously published Sinopec figures, at 50.66 billion yuan compared with 53.91 billion yuan.

It had vanished from some Xinhua feeds on Friday but the agency could not immediately be reached for comment.

Sinopec has reported a net profit of 49.8 billion yuan in the first three quarters of 2007, but a formal announcement of full-year earnings is not expected for at least several weeks.

The company, Asia's top refiner, is seen posting a net profit of 64.4 billion yuan for all of 2007, according to the average forecast of 17 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.

Xinhua had not said whether the figure Cai gave for 2007 profit included a government subsidy which Sinopec is expected to receive soon to compensate for refining losses run up last year as domestic fuel prices rose more slowly than global oil prices.

Chinese government and industry sources told Reuters earlier on Thursday that the subsidy for 2007 was expected to be between 10 billion and 15 billion yuan.

($1=7.27 yuan)

(Reporting by Jim Bai; Editing by Emma Graham-Harrison)