Chinese Big Oil under threat amid corruption scandal

China's major state-owned producers have been dogged by a spate of corruption scandals, with senior officials accused of abusing their positions and encouraging anti-competitive practices. Will new president Xi Jinping curb the might of the country's big three?

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), one of the world's largest oil companies, is feeling the heat. In late August, the Communist Party's top disciplinary body put out a terse press release saying four executives at CNPC and its publicly-listed arm PetroChina were under investigation for "serious disciplinary violations", a Party euphemism for corruption. A week later, the government ratcheted up the pressure, announcing that former PetroChina chairman Jiang Jiemin was also being investigated for "serious disciplinary violations". The investigations, coming on the heels of former Chongqing governor Bo Xilai's high-profile trial for corruption and abuse of power, have been seen as par