China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) was ranked the best performing centrally-administered state-owned enterprise (SOE) in 2007, the state assets regulator said Thursday.

China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), Asia's top oil refiner, and China Mobile, the nation's biggest mobile network operator, took the second and third places respectively, according to the list issued by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Management Commission (SASAC).

Both CNPC and Sinopec suffered net profit losses in the first half this year from government fuel price caps and windfall taxes. China Mobile on Wednesday reported a net profit of 54.8 billion yuan (US$8.02 billion), up 45 percent from the same period last year.

CNPC's net profit reached 134.46 billion yuan in 2007, while that of Sinopec topped 54.95 billion yuan.

SASAC conducts an annual assessment of centrally-administered SOEs and divides them into five ranks from A to E accordingly. Indices such as total assets, net assets to earning ratios and state-assets appreciation ratios are taken into account.

A total of 40 companies among 152 SOEs reporting to the central government last year entered the top A class.

(Xinhua News Agency August 29, 2008)