China oil chief to lead SASAC

Chairman of China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), Jiang Jiemin, will lead the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), a ministry-level agency that oversees about RMB70 trillion (US$11.26 trillion) of non-financial state assets, The South China Morning Post reported, citing a Chinese media report Monday. Jiang is set to replace Wang Yong, the previous SASAC head, who was promoted to state councillor. SASAC and CNPC were unable to confirm the report last night, but PetroChina, CNPC’s listed unit, announced Jiang’s resignation as director. Analysts speculate that Jiang could draw on his experience running CNPC to help streamline the regulator and carry out reforms in the state sector.