The forecast is slightly lower than the 6.2 billion yuan profit reported in the fourth quarter.

However, it would be a big improvement from the year-ago loss of 13.8 billion yuan, the company's first-ever, due to a recovery in crude prices and cost cutting measures, the company said.

Earnings in the first three months of 2016 were hit by weak crude oil , which sank to around $27 per barrel, the lowest in years, in mid-January 2016 amid concerns about a global glut.

Prices have recovered to around $56 per tonne currently on hopes that cuts by OPEC and other producers will help erode the oversupply.