Major oil and gas sector reforms in the pipeline

As China is likely to create a giant oil and gas pipeline company this year as part of the nation's effort to reform the State-owned petroleum industry, insiders believe the move will shake up the petroleum sector and break the monopoly in the oil and gas sector.

The new oil and gas pipeline company, which is likely to be established around the middle of this year, according to China Securities Journal, will operate in a market-oriented manner after the acquisition of the related assets of the country's three national oil companies - China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec) and China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC).

The companies have a combined asset value of up to 500 billion yuan ($75 billion), according to Bloomberg.