Beijing-based Sinopec chairman Fu Chengyu became the first head of an Asia-based company to earn the distinction of his peers as Petroleum Executive of the Year, earlier this year.
He leads what earlier this month became the highest- ranking Chinese company in Fortune Magazine’s list of global top 500 companies for 2012. It ranked at number five, with annual operating revenue of £241billion.
Mr Fu, who turned 60 this year and was until last year chairman of CNOOC before a reshuffle by China’s Communist Party, gained a master’s degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Southern California.
When he was made Petroleum Executive of the Year, an accolade selected through nominations from his peer group, he was described as a “transformational figure in China’s oil industry” with “extensive experience building partnerships with international oil companies and participating in Chinese oil and gas investments around the world”.