Oil firms see profit go up in smoke

CNPC, Sinopec and CNOOC hit by falling product prices during the first six month

China's oil and gas majors saw their profits slump during the first six months of the year, with the levels falling to the lowest in five years, according to financial reports.

The first-half reports for China's "big three" oil companies - China National Petroleum Corp, China Petrochemical Corp, also known as Sinopec, and China National Offshore Oil Corp - showed that CNPC's profit fell by more than 60 percent to 25.4 billion yuan ($3.98 billion), Sinopec by 22 percent to 25.4 billion yuan, and CNOOC by more than 50 percent to 14.7 billion yuan.