RPT-WRAPUP 1-Top Asia oil firms PetroChina,Sinopec lag forecasts

(Repeats story sent late on Monday with no changes to text)

(Adds details, executive and analysts comments)

By Judy Hua

HONG KONG, April 28 (Reuters) - Top Asia oil producer PetroChina (0857.HK) and the region's No. 1 oil refiner Sinopec (0386.HK) lagged forecasts with weaker first-quarter profits, as sky-high crude prices forced their refining businesses into loss.

The news knocked as much as 4.2 percent off Sinopec Corp shares and PetroChina Co Ltd closed 0.5 percent lower ahead of its results.

But the country's top offshore specialist CNOOC Ltd (0883.HK) (CEO.N) cheered investors with a 62-percent jump in its first-quarter revenue. Its business is purely upstream.

CNOOC's shares rose nearly 5 percent before the operating data was released. The company, which has no public listed domestic A shares, did not report quarterly earnings.

Crude oil prices CLc1 hit a record high near $120 this month on tight supply, geopolitical concerns and a weak dollar.

State-run PetroChina (PTR.N) (601857.SS) and domestic rival Sinopec (0386.HK) (SNP.N) (600028.SS) have found themselves squeezed between soaring crude prices and government-set product prices, as they are obliged to meet domestic demand. China is the world's largest oil consumer after the United States.

"From a long-term view, adjusting prices of resources products is a trend," Sinopec's Chief Financial Officer Dai Houliang told investors in a teleconference.

"But since CPI rose as high as 8 percent in the first quarter of this year, there is quite big uncertainty whether the government could adjust oil product prices in the near term."

PetroChina earned a net profit of 28.89 billion yuan ($4.1 billion) in the three months ended March, down 32 percent from a year earlier and below a consensus forecast for 30.4 billion yuan from four analysts polled by Reuters.

Sinopec posted on Sunday a 69 percent fall in net profit to 6.06 billion yuan in the first quarter -- short of a consensus forecast 8.28 billion yuan -- after it won a 7.4 billion yuan government bailout to cover losses in the period.

GOVERNMENT HELP

Both companies said this month they would start receiving a government subsidy every month against losses due to processing imported crude, starting from April.

Analysts say the subsidy will most likely come in the form of a 75 percent rebate on the 17 percent value-added taxes now slapped on crude imports.