The government has agreed to continue giving subsidies to cover the loss of Sinopec (600028.SH;0386.HK; SNP. NYSE) in crude processing in the third quarter, but the exact figure depends on crude price change and the operating status of the company, said Dai Houliang, CFO of Sinopec.

    As international crude price declined recently and domestic product oil price was raised on June 20, Sinopec's refining loss will be narrowed in the third quarter. In that case, the subsidies will decrease compared to Q2, Dai said.

    According to Sinopec's half-year report, the company posted 9.34 billion yuan of net profit for H1 after addition of the 33.4 billion yuan of the government subsidies.

    Sinopec predicts that the company's net profit will decline over 50 percent in the first three quarters. Its H1 net profit plunged 73.4 percent on year.

    Sinopec chairman Su Shulin announced last Wednesday to cut its 2008 capital expenditure (CAPEX) by 8.5 billion yuan to cope with the expected most difficult time of this year in Q3 and Q4.