Sinopec Group announces the appointment of Ma Yongsheng as general manager

China Petrochemical Corporation Co., Ltd. (Sinopec) announced on 22 April the appointment of Ma Yongsheng, 58, as general manager. The post has been vacant since former General Manager Dai Houliang was appointed Sinopec chairman in 2018.

Ma is a professor-level senior engineer with a doctor’s degree and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He joined Sinopec’s exploration department in 1998, after years of working in the other state-owned oil giant China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC). In April 2002, he was appointed chief geologist of Sinopec Southern Exploration and Production Company and four years later, was appointed executive deputy manager in charge of overall management.

Ma made a name for himself when he led the development of the giant Puguang gas field, the largest high-sulphur natural gas field in China, with proven reserves of 412.2 billion cubic metres (bcm), in the southwestern province of Sichuan. Sinopec has invested around CNY62 billion (USD10 billion) in the project.

Development of high-sulphur gas field, which contains a high content of poisonous hydrogen sulphide, is particularly challenging. In 2003, a blow-out at a CNPC natural gas well in southwest China’s Chongqing killed 243 people and poisoned thousands, according to Reuters.

By applying the company’s sour-gas development technology, incorporating sour gas processing technology from U.S. firm Black Veatch, Puguang produced about 10 bcm of natural gas in 2012, accounting for 8.3% of China’s total natural gas output. The technology has now been applied in Sinopec’s other high-sulphur natural gas fields, including Dawan, Yuanba and Xinglong in Sichuan and neighbouring Chongqing municipality.

In January 2007, Ma was appointed manager and party secretary of the CPC Committee of Sinopec Southern Exploration and Production Company. In March 2007, he served as general manager and deputy party secretary of CPC Committee of Sinopec Exploration Company. In May 2007, he was appointed deputy commander of the Sichuan-East China Gas Transmission Construction Project Headquarter, general manager and deputy secretary of CPC Committee of Sinopec Exploration Company of Sinopec Corp.

In May 2008, he was appointed deputy director general of the Exploration and Production Department of Sinopec Corp. (Director General Level) and deputy commander of the Sichuan-East China Gas Transmission Construction Project Headquarter.

In July 2010, he served as deputy chief geologist of Sinopec Corp. and in August 2013, he was appointed chief geologist.

In December 2015, he served as vice president of China Petrochemical Corporation and appointed senior vice president of Sinopec Corp. In February 2016, he was elected as director of Sinopec Corp. In January 2017, he was appointed a member of the Leading Party Member Group of China Petrochemical Corporation.

In October 2018, he was appointed president of Sinopec Corp. In April 2019, he was appointed a director of the Board and president of Sinopec Group, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Sinopec Group.