Zhang Jianhua, former President of China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), the nation's largest oil and gas producer, was appointed director of the National Energy Administration (NEA) on November 14.

The NEA, initiated in 2008, is formulating and implementing the country's energy development strategies, promoting energy system reform and supervising and managing the energy market.

Zhang has over 30 years' experience in the petroleum and petrochemical industries. After graduating from university in 1986, he joined the Shanghai Gaoqiao Petrochemical Company which became the Sinopec Shanghai Gaoqiao Petrochemical Co. Ltd. in 2000. Zhang became president of the company that same year.

He became vice president of China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, or Sinopec, China's biggest oil refiner, in 2003 and assumed a number of other important managerial positions at the corporation until 2016.

Zhang was appointed general manager and deputy secretary of the Party committee of CNPC in July 2016 and president of the company in June.