What’s new: Four former executives of China National Offshore Oil Corp. Ltd. (CNOOC) have been placed under investigation for “suspected serious violations of discipline and law,” the country’s top graft-buster announced, as an anti-corruption crackdown sweeps through the energy sector.
The targets include Zi Shilong, former deputy general manager of CNOOC’s department of legal and foreign affairs; Cao Shujie, former external director of CNOOC’s group office and former director of a subsidiary; Yu Guimin, ex-Communist Party committee member, deputy general manager and chief engineer of the company’s Tianjin branch; and Deng Jianming, former deputy general manager at the engineering and technical department of CNOOC Ltd., the company’s listed arm, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said in separate notices Tuesday.
The brief statements did not give details on why the four are being investigated.
The background: Anti-graft officials have targeted the country’s sprawling, state-controlled oil and gas sectors this year, bringing down several senior executives from giant state companies.
In March, the CCDI launched a probe into Fang Zhi, a former vice president of CNOOC, also for suspicion of serious violations of law and discipline — a common euphemism for corruption.
Earlier that month, Li Yong, a former deputy Communist Party head and general manager of CNOOC, was put under investigation for graft.
In February, Wang Yilin, former chairman and Community Party chief of state-owned China National Petroleum Corp., was placed under investigation, four years after retirement. That followed the downfall of Duan Yanxiu, former party head of the natural gas business unit of China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., also known as Sinopec.
Contact reporter Ding Yi (yiding@caixin.com) and editor Jonathan Breen (jonathanbreen@caixin.com)
