Jiang was in charge of the company's listing in 1999.

"Jiang participated in every aspect of PetroChina's listing and has helped the company acquire many foreign assets," said Lin Boqiang, director of the Xiamen-based China Center for Energy Economic Research.

"China's oil and gas companies are likely to perform better in the global marketplace after he takes office.

"It is likely that he will bring these experiences to other State-owned companies, too, as they develop overseas, in other industries besides oil and gas," Lin said.

Zhang Laibin, president of the China University of Petroleum, said Jiang's experience in leading CNPC's expansion overseas will contribute to his new job.

Over the past year, the company's overseas oil and gas output reached 100 million metric tons and revenue from its international businesses accounted for 39 percent of its total.

Forty percent of the company's output is from abroad, and Jiang said in January that figure will reach 60 percent by 2020.

The company's latest international move saw it acquire a 20 percent share of four offshore natural gas fields in Mozambique for $4.2 billion, the company's biggest overseas natural gas field investment.

Xu Baoli, a director at the research center of SASAC, said a new head who understands SOEs' demands will play an important role.

"To some extent, SASAC is still acting as a baton for central SOEs, which concentrate on achieving the targets set by the governmental supervisor.

"However, to strengthen their competitiveness, SOEs should shift their focus to meet market demands," Xu said.

Some new guidelines on central SOE reform may accompany the appointment of a new commission head, but the main direction of its reform will remain unchanged, according to Xu.

In recent years, SASAC has focused on three main tasks: the promotion of economic efficiency, the internationalization process and a reform process which has included the control of internal procedures and stock reform.

"Strong business growth of central SOEs was one of the biggest achievements SASAC has made during Wang Yong's tenure as chairman," said Yu at the CASS.

In 2012, total profits generated by central SOEs were 1.3 trillion yuan ($207 billion), a 52.5 percent surge from 2010 when Wang took the position.

The biggest jump in central SOE profits over the past decade was in 2010 when Wang replaced Li Rongrong as the chief of SASAC.

In that year, SASAC generated total profits of 852.2 billion yuan, a 42.8 percent jump from 2009.

"Prior to Wang's management of the commission, SOE profits were still at a low level," said Yu, adding that as well as profit growth, technological innovation and overseas expansion improved greatly.

Contact the writers at baochang@chinadaily.com.cn and dujuan@chinadaily.com.cn