Sinopec Group, China’s largest oil refiner, named President Ma Yongsheng of its Shanghai-listed arm to fill the post of general manager, which has been vacant for a year.

Fifty-eight-year-old Ma is an oil industry veteran and a geological exploration specialist. In 2006, he led the discovery of the Puguang gas field in the southwestern province of Sichuan. The field is the largest high-sulfur natural gas field ever discovered in China.

Ma joined Sinopec’s exploration department in 1998, after years of working in the other state-backed oil major, China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC). In 2007, he was named general manager of Sinopec Exploration Co. In 2018, he became president of Sinopec Corp.

The Sinopec Corp. top post has remained vacant since 2017 when former General Manager Dai Houliang was named company chairman.

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