China National Petroleum Corp and Sinopec, China’s top two state-owned oil companies, have denied they are considering merging to form a giant monopoly after rumours prompted both companies’ Hong Kong-listed shares to jump on Monday.
中国最大的两家国有石油企业中国石油天然气集团（CNPC，简称：中石油）与中国石油化工集团（Sinopec Group，简称：中石化）否认它们正考虑合并为一家巨型垄断企业。此前，这方面的传闻导致两家企业在香港上市的子公司的股票在周一双双上涨。
PetroChina, CNPC’s listed arm, said on Tuesday it had not received “any information, written or verbal, from any government authority” regarding a merger. Sinopec issued a similar denial to the Hong Kong exchange.
中石油的上市子公司中国石油天然气股份公司（PetroChina，简称：中国石油）周二发布公告称，其“未得到来自于任何政府部门有关中石油与中石化重组整合传闻的书面或口头信息”。中石化的上市子公司中国石油化工股份公司（Sinopec，简称：中国石化）对港交所发表了类似的否认。

The idea of an oil merger first surfaced in February, after China’s two state-owned rail companies agreed to combine to better compete in international tenders.
有关石油企业合并的设想首次出现于今年2月，之前中国的两家国有轨道交通设备企业同意合并、以在国际投标中增加竞争力。
The country’s two top nuclear groups have also been ordered to co-ordinate internationally but are resisting the idea of a domestic merger.
中国最大的两家核电集团也被要求在海外市场相互协调，但两家集团不同意在国内进行合并。
Unlike rail companies, which must compete internationally as China’s domestic rail buildout slows, the oil companies’ main business is in the Chinese market. Critics say a merged oil group would be a more bloated and less efficient version of the current duopoly.
石油企业与轨道交通设备企业不同，随着中国国内铁路建设放缓，轨道交通设备企业必须到国际上去竞争，而石油企业的主要业务是在中国市场。批评人士指出，与现在的双头垄断相比，中石油与中石化合并而成的石油集团将是一个更加臃肿、效率更低的集团。
Both companies were created in the 1990s from the division of the former Ministry of Petroleum Industry, a powerful body that played a substantial role not only in Chinese energy and industrial policy but also in political factions.
这两家石油企业都是上世纪90年代从原来的石油工业部分出来的。中国石油工业部是一个实权部门，不仅在中国的能源和工业政策上有重要影响，在政治派系上也扮演重要角色。
They are under siege from a nearly two-year anti-corruption campaign that is rooting out the political support base of former energy and security tsar Zhou Yongkang, whose early career was spent in the oil towns at the heart of CNPC and Sinopec.
这两家石油企业都受到已历时将近两年的反腐运动的包围，这场运动正在铲除原石油和政法“沙皇”周永康的政治支持基础。周永康职业生涯的早期是在中石油和中石化的核心石油重镇度过的。
Mr Zhou was formally charged with “bribery, abuse of power and intentional disclosure of state secrets”.
周永康受到的正式指控是“涉嫌受贿、滥用职权、故意泄露国家秘密”。
On Monday Chinese anti-corruption investigators detained Wang Tianpu, Sinopec’s second-in-command. Chinese financial magazine Caixin reported that Mr Wang had fronted for the business interests of Mr Zhou’s son, Zhou Bin, who is also in detention.
周一，中国反腐调查人员羁押了中石化二把手王天普。据中国财经媒体财新网(Caixin)报道，王天普曾为周永康之子周斌获取商业利益提供便利。周斌目前也在羁押中。
Mr Wang was also among those reprimanded for the explosion of crude leaking from an oil pipeline that killed 62 people in the coastal city of Qingdao in 2013.
2013年，海滨城市青岛因石油管道原油泄漏引起爆炸，造成62人丧生，王天普也是受处分的人员之一。
Mr Wang had survived previous corruption purges at Sinopec, including the 2007 scandal that claimed the then-head of Sinopec and the then-mayor of Qingdao amid allegations of improper land deals by the two mens’ shared mistress.
王天普之前在中石化经历过反腐整肃，但都平安渡过，其中包括2007年的一个丑闻：时任中国石化总裁的王天普与当时的青岛市长受到指控，称二人共享的情妇涉嫌不正当土地交易。
Sinopec remains under the control of Fu Chengyu, a rising star who previously headed smaller rival, Cnooc.
中石化目前仍处于傅成玉的掌控之下。傅成玉是一颗正在崛起的新星，曾执掌过规模较小的竞争对手中国海洋石油有限公司(Cnooc)。