Cnooc names chairman Yang CEO after Li moves to energy agency

[HONG KONG] Cnooc Ltd named its chairman Yang Hua the company's new chief executive officer after former CEO Li Fanrong was appointed deputy head of China's National Energy Administration.

Executive vice-president Yuan Guangyu was named president and executive director, China's biggest offshore oil and gas producer said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange Wednesday.

Mr Yang, 55, who was also Cnooc's CEO from August 2010 to November 2011, pledged in the statement to "lead the company to proactively tackle the challenges of low oil prices."

The changes are the latest management reshuffles in the country's energy sector that Chinese President Xi Jinping is seeking to overhaul through market-based reforms. State Grid Corp of China chairman Liu Zhenya retired last month and China Petrochemical Corp appointed a new general manager in May after his predecessor was expelled from the ruling Communist Party for corruption.

Mr Yang's "experience will help the company a lot, especially at a time when efficiency and cost-cutting matter most," Neil Beveridge, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Sanford C Bernstein & Co said by phone. "He's done it all before, and with a lot of success."

Mr Li, 52, led Cnooc's purchase in 2012 of Canada's Nexen for US$15 billion, the country's biggest overseas acquisition at the time, and also guided the company through crude's slump by slashing operating costs, while raising oil and gas output.

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