Private Services Firms at CNPC Oilfield Suffer amid Anti-Graft Campaign

(Beijing) – Yang Guoxing was one of the earliest private entrepreneurs to provide drilling services to state-owned oil giant China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC). His company has survived in the competitive market for more than 20 years, but 2014 will be the "hardest one yet," he says.

For private businesses like Yang's, oilfield exploration and development has always been a tough market to enter. CNPC's and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp.'s subsidiary service providers control 85 percent of the oil exploration services and equipment market, leaving about 2,000 private companies competing for the rest, a report from UBS Securities said.