A Chinese court has sentenced former CNOOC executive Yuan Guangyu to death with a two-year reprieve after finding he accepted more than 152 million yuan (£16.9 million) in bribes over 21 years.
The Intermediate People’s Court in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, issued the sentence on 17 June. The court also ordered the confiscation of all Yuan’s personal assets.
Yuan was a former deputy general manager of CNOOC’s parent group. According to the court, he used senior roles held between 2001 and 2022 to assist companies and individuals in project contracting, business operations and personnel appointments.
In return, Yuan accepted money and valuables worth more than 152 million yuan (£16.9 million), either directly or through intermediaries.
Yuan, 67, served as deputy general manager of CNOOC’s parent group from 2016 until his retirement in 2019. In March 2025, China’s top anti-corruption authorities said he was under investigation for suspected serious violations of discipline and law. He was later expelled from the Communist Party before prosecutors filed bribery charges.
The case was heard by the Xuzhou Intermediate People’s Court on 19 March 2026. Prosecutors said Yuan abused his positions at CNOOC over more than two decades to provide improper support to companies and individuals seeking business advantages.
The court did not order immediate execution. It said Yuan confessed after being detained, voluntarily disclosed offenses not yet known to investigators, and returned illicit gains. These factors led to a death sentence with a two-year reprieve.
Such sentences in China are often commuted to life imprisonment if no further offense is committed during the suspension period. Courts have increasingly ordered that any resulting life sentence be served without parole.
The case forms part of China’s wider anti-corruption campaign, which has targeted senior officials, military officers, financial regulators and executives at state-owned enterprises.
The energy sector remains a key focus because of the scale of investment, procurement and contracting activity involved. CNOOC is one of China’s three national oil companies and plays a major role in offshore oil and gas exploration and production.
Yuan’s sentence follows other severe corruption rulings involving senior Chinese officials and state-sector executives. In October 2024, former People’s Bank of China vice-governor Fan Yifei received a death sentence with a two-year reprieve after being convicted of taking more than 386 million yuan (£43 million) in bribes.
The same month, former Guizhou Communist Party secretary Sun Zhigang received the same punishment in a case involving more than 813 million yuan (£91 million) in bribes.
Immediate executions have also been carried out in major corruption cases. Former China Huarong Asset Management chairman Lai Xiaomin was executed in 2021 after being convicted of accepting almost 1.8 billion yuan (£201 million) in bribes. Former Inner Mongolia official Li Jianping was executed in 2024 after convictions linked to corruption and related offences involving more than 3 billion yuan (£335 million).
