Chinese oil producing and refining companies managed to significantly increase profits last year. According to the report of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the country’s oil and petrochemical industry registered earnings growth of 32.1 percent in 2018. Chinese oil companies became leaders among the rest of the industrial sectors, where the average growth was almost three times less, 10.3 percent. The profits growth caused an increase in revenue or vice versa. The aggregate profit of the industry reached 839.38 billion yuan ($125 billion) accounting for 12.7 percent of the total generated by the Chinese industrial enterprises. The oil and petrochemical industry's total export totaled 701.87 billion yuan, up 22 percent. The export of specialty chemicals, synthetic materials and organic chemical materials expanded by 19.7 percent, 17.2 percent and 21.6 percent, respectively. Investments in oil production and refining rose by 6 percent in 2018, reversing a decline for two consecutive years.