On January 14th, the anti-corruption TV series produced by the Chinese Communist Party revealed the corrupt details of Li Yong, former Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and General Manager of China National Offshore Oil Corporation Limited— in a state of extreme panic and emotional breakdown, he attempted to burn some of the bribe money in the attic.
Li Yong came under investigation in March 2024. He had long been responsible for managing numerous overseas projects of CNOOC, where his cross-border corruption issues were particularly prominent. One major method of lining his pockets was through tricks in intermediary commissions in overseas projects, colluding with unlawful agents to tolerate unreasonably high commissions in order to profit from them.
In one overseas technical service project, a CNOOC subsidiary had been paying exorbitant commissions to a foreign agent named Sun. When Li Yong first took over as CEO of the company, he tried to persuade Sun to lower the commission amount, but once he received money from Sun, the matter was dropped.
Li Yong revealed in the TV series that Sun came in a car, handed him a box of money directly, asking him to “turn a blind eye.”
Due to the excessively high commissions in the project, which raised eyebrows, Li Yong hoped Sun would reduce some of the commissions. However, since he had already taken money from Sun, Sun naturally did not take him seriously.
Li Yong claimed that the two had a big quarrel in a parking lot of a shopping mall. Sun threatened to report Li Yong to the disciplinary commission.
It was only after Li Yong retired from the company that Sun’s significantly unreasonable agency contract was terminated.
Public records show that Li Yong, born in August 1963, graduated from the Southwest Petroleum University in 1984 and joined CNOOC the same year, holding positions such as Executive Vice President, President, and CEO of CNOOC Field Services Co., Ltd.
In March 2017, after serving nearly 33 years in CNOOC, Li Yong moved to China Petrochemical Corporation as Deputy General Manager. In September 2020, he returned to CNOOC and served as Vice Chairman and General Manager until his retirement in December 2023.
The anti-corruption series mentioned that Li Yong initially wanted to enjoy the ill-gotten gains from corruption after retiring. However, soon after, he became the target of an investigation by the authorities. Around the procurement projects approved by Li Yong at CNOOC, it was discovered through information collision that a company controlled by a businessman named Ren Fengde frequently obtained procurement and exclusive bidding projects from a single source, raising many suspicions. The task force found evidence of improper economic transactions between Ren Fengde and Li Yong. When Li Yong learned of Ren Fengde’s detention, he felt extreme panic, and in a state of emotional breakdown, he made a crazy attempt to burn the bribes he had received in the attic. Realizing that destroying the cash wouldn’t erase the corruption facts or eliminate the evidence of trading power for money, he stopped the insane act and was soon placed under detention.
On March 15, 2024, Li Yong was investigated, and in September, he was expelled from the party, had his benefits revoked, and was handed over to the judiciary.
In August 2025, Li Yong was sentenced to 14 years in prison for bribery, involving over 67.94 million yuan.
CNOOC was established on February 15, 1982, with the approval of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China. It is a super-large state-owned enterprise and the largest offshore oil and gas producer and operator in China. The company has a registered capital of 113.8 billion yuan and owns 5 controlling domestic and overseas listed companies. Its main businesses include oil and gas exploration and development, professional technical services, refining and sales, natural gas and power generation, and financial services.