ANKARA
China's top three state-owned oil companies – Sinopec, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, CNOOC and the China National Petroleum Corporation, CNPC – have had a change of leadership, with three new chairmen appointed in a major reshuffle.
Monday’s appointments came amid an announcement of personnel changes, reported the country’s Xinhua news agency.
An anti-corruption campaign launched in 2013 under President Xi Jinping has investigated tens of thousands of suspects, including dozens of high-profile individuals at the top of the Communist Party.
Wang Yupu, a former deputy director of the China Academy of Engineering, will replace Fu Chengyu – who has retired – as new Sinopec chairman, according to Xinhua.
Wang Yilin, formerly chairman of the country's third-largest oil and gas firm, CNOOC, will take up the leading role at CNPC, replacing Zhou Jiping.
Yang Hua, general manager of CNOOC, will succeed Wang Yilin as chairman.
Due to low oil prices and weak domestic demand, the net profit of Sinopec Corp. plummeted 84.6 percent year-on-year in the first three months of 2015 to 2.17 billion yuan ($355 million).
China's biggest oil producer, PetroChina – the listed arm of the CNPC – reported an 82 percent fall in profit for the period.
China’s anti-graft watchdog, The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced on its website on April 27 that Wang Tianpu, the president of Asia's largest crude oil refiner Sinopec Group, was being investigated for suspected "serious disciplinary violations” -- a euphemism for corruption.
