October 28, 2011. PetroChina Co.'s third-quarter profit growth outpaced gains by rival China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. as higher crude oil prices helped counter refining losses at Asia’s biggest company by market value. Losses from refining amounted to 41.5 billion yuan for PetroChina and 23.1 billion yuan for Sinopec. PetroChina said Oct. 21 its refining loss may widen to 50 billion yuan for the year, from 23.4 billion yuan in the first half. Sinopec’s six- month refining loss was 12.2 billion yuan. Refining at PetroChina increased 10 percent in the first nine months to 725.2 million barrels, equivalent to about 2.7 million barrels a day. Sinopec processed 4.4 million barrels of crude daily, 3.6 percent more than a year earlier.