China's largest refiner, China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation  reported Friday a 6.3 percent profits growth in the first three quarters. 

During the period, the company's operating income grew 31.3 percent from a year earlier to 1.88 trillion yuan ($295 billion), the company said.

Its net profits hit 59.96 billion yuan and earnings per share was 0.692 yuan, both up 6.3 percent year-on-year.

The company's oil and gas production totalled 303.27 million barrels of oil equivalent, an increase of 0.8 percent year-on-year. Domestic crude oil production increased by 0.5 percent year-on-year while overseas production of crude oil dropped significantly due to the impact of overhaul. Overseas production has been returned to normal in the third quarter.

The company produced 382.25 billion cubic feet of natural gas, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.1 percent.

During the first nine months, the firm refined  4.37 million barrels of crude oil a day, an year-on-year increase of 3.6 percent.

Total sales volume of refined oil products reached 121.58 million tonnes, representing a year-on-year increase of 10.3 percent. Production of ethylene was 7.36 million tonnes, a year-on-year growth of 11.3 percent.

The company's total capital expenditure was 57.03 billion yuan for the first three quarters of 2011.