Sinopec Group fuel storage tanks line the waterfront in Hong Kong. The company plans to restructure its construction outfits and engineering institutes, and list them. [Photo/Bloomberg]

BEIJING - China's Sinopec Group, the parent of top Asian refiner Sinopec Corp, plans to restructure its downstream engineering and construction units before listing them in a public stock offering, industry officials said.

The State-run energy group aims to start the restructuring process around the middle of next year, once its top management agrees to proceed.

Sinopec's construction outfits and its design and engineering institutes have a total workforce of close to 50,000 with annual turnover of roughly 200 billion yuan ($31 billion).

A company official declined to predict the timeline for the initial stock offering or the size of the fundraising, saying the company must first complete a complicated restructuring program.

The listing plan was originally proposed by Sinopec's new chief, Chairman Fu Chengyu.

Formerly head of China's offshore oil and gas company CNOOC Corp, Fu took the helm at Sinopec Group - the country's second-largest energy giant after China National Petroleum Corp - in April.

"Fu has the experience of listing CNOOC's oilfield services arm, COSL, so he wants to apply it at Sinopec," said an official with knowledge of Sinopec's early restructuring plans.

"The restructuring part will be a big challenge as the services business is very scattered at Sinopec, and each unit has long established its own vested interests."

Among the units are Sinopec Engineering Incorporation and Sinopec Luoyang Institute - both flagship design institutions that specialize in refining and petrochemical projects - and engineering and construction arms in Nanjing and Ningbo.

Last week, the State-run Sinochem Corp, primarily an oil and chemicals trader with a newly grown oil and gas production business, said it plans to raise up to 35 billion yuan through an initial public offering in Shanghai, in what would be the biggest IPO in the mainland market in the past year.

Reuters