China's Sinopec H1 net falls 77 pct on soaring crude

HONG KONG, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Top Asian oil refiner Sinopec Corp (0386.HK) posted a 77 percent fall in first-half earnings as soaring crude prices and caps on state-set fuel prices pushed its refining business into the red, despite government subsidies.

Sinopec (600028.SS)(SNP.N), which vies with PetroChina (0857.HK)(601857.SS)(PTR.N) and CNOOC Ltd (0883.HK)(CEO.N) to fuel the world's largest oil market after the United States, on Sunday reported a net profit of 8.26 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) in January-June, versus a slightly revised profit of 36.4 billion yuan a year earlier.

The result beat a consensus forecast of 6.92 billion yuan from six analysts polled by Reuters.

Crude oil prices CLc1 jumped by nearly half in January-June to top $140 a barrel, before striking an all-time high of $147 in July on tight supplies and a weak dollar. High crude prices tend to favour crude oil producers while hurting refiners.

Shares in Sinopec fell 38 percent in January-June, versus PetroChina's 27 percent fall and CNOOC's 1 percent gain. The benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI fell 21 percent. (Reporting by Judy Hua, editing by Tom Miles)