China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., Asia's biggest oil refiner, said its 2004 net profit rose 61 percent to a record on surging demand for fuels and chemicals in the world's fastest-growing major economy.

Net income rose to 36.02 billion yuan ($4.4 billion), or 0.415 yuan a share, from 22.4 billion yuan, or 0.259 yuan, in 2003, according to international accounting standards, the company said in a statement on the Shanghai stock exchange Web site. The median full-year estimate of 19 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial was 36.4 billion yuan.

Chairman Chen Tonghai, 56, is boosting sales of fuels, plastics and paints as rising incomes boost spending on cars, homes and electrical appliances. Sinopec produces two-thirds of the nation's fuels.

"Retailing of gasoline is not a bad business as the number of cars grows," Philip Ehrmann, who helps manage $2.3 billion at Gartmore Investment Management in London, said before the earnings were announced. "The refining business globally is very attractive."

(CRIENGLISH.com/Agencies: Mar. 29, 2005)