BEIJING - China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) reported a 40.1 percent increase in net profits for the first half of 2017 on Monday mainly due to high oil prices.

The company's profit attributable to equity shareholders was 27.9 billion yuan ($4.2 billion) between January and June, according to its financial results filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Its turnover rose 32.8 percent year on year to 1.14 trillion yuan in the first half of 2017.

The company attributed the rise mainly to high oil prices and sales.

In contrast, during the same period last year, Sinopec reported a 21.6 percent drop in net profits due to persistently weak oil prices.

For the second half of this year, the company has planned crude oil production of 148 million barrels of oil equivalent as oil prices may fluctuate at a low level, the company said.

The company also plans to produce 427.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas during the same period.

Shares of the company opened 0.83 percent higher at 6.08 yuan on Monday.