the company logo of china’s sinopec corp is displayed at a news conference in hong kong china march 26 2018 reutersbobby yip singapore april 27 reuters  china petroleum  chemical corp 600028ss reported 25 surge in net income for the first quarter of 2022 a level last seen in the third quarter of 2020 thanks to elevated crude oil prices but weakening fuel demand as tight covid controls weighed asias top oil refiner also known as sinopec posted 2261 billion yuan 345 billion net profit under chinese accounting standards versus 1793 billion yuan a year earlier according to a filing to the shanghai stock exchange on wednesday refinery throughput edged up 27 from a year ago to 6419 million tonnes or about 521 million barrels per day with the growth capped by sliding fuel demand starting in march as authorities resumed lockdown to contain a flareup of coronavirus global oil prices rose sharply in the first quarter with average spot prices of platts brent crude oil up 663 at 1012 per barrel while domestic demand for natural gas refined oil and chemical products maintained growth sinopec said in the filing sales of total refined products dipped 18 during januarymarch versus a 68 growth during the same yearago period its crude oil production reached 6907 million barrels up 1 on the year while natural gas output expanded 77 to 31394 billion cubic feet capital spending was 2538 billion yuan versus 23 billion yuan a year earlier with the increases mainly channelled to the exploration and development sector the company has vowed to make more discoveries in geologically difficult shale oil and gas resources reporting by chen aizhu and muyu xu editing by louise heavens