On January 8th, the State owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council announced that with the approval of the State Council, China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) and China Aviation Fuel Group Co., Ltd. (AVIC) have implemented a restructuring. Industry insiders pointed out that the first restructuring of central enterprises in 2026 has been implemented, which sends a signal to further deepen the reform of state-owned assets and enterprises, promote the optimization of state-owned economic layout and structural adjustment. The top-level design of the current new round of state-owned asset and enterprise reform is accelerating, which will comprehensively optimize the layout of the state-owned economy on a larger scale and at a deeper level. The restructuring and integration of industries such as equipment manufacturing, healthcare, energy and power will be accelerated, and strategic emerging industries and future industries will also become key focus points for central enterprise mergers and acquisitions. According to publicly available information from China Aviation Oil Corporation, Sinopec is a mega energy and chemical group company that integrates upstream and downstream, production, supply, marketing, and domestic and foreign trade. Currently, it is the world's largest refining company and the second largest chemical company, ranking sixth in the Fortune Global 500 by 2025, with nine listed companies. As the largest aviation transportation service guarantee enterprise group in Asia that integrates aviation oil procurement, transportation, storage, testing, sales, and refueling, China Aviation Fuel ranks 481st among the Fortune Global 500 in 2025. China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the company, was listed on the main board of the Singapore Exchange on December 6, 2001, serving as an important platform for its international strategy. The 'strong alliance' between Sinopec and China Aviation Oil is undoubtedly a landmark opening for the strategic restructuring and professional integration of central enterprises in 2026, signaling that the restructuring and integration of foreign-funded central enterprises will focus more on areas that are urgently needed for national strategy and industrial upgrading. ”Zhu Changming, the head of the state-owned enterprise mixed ownership reform center at Sunshine Times Law Firm, said. By 2025, China will become the world's largest aviation population country. Aviation kerosene, as the "blood" of the civil aviation industry, its supply safety is directly related to the national economic lifeline and the stability of the public transportation system. The "2026 China Energy and Chemical Industry Development Report" recently released by China Petrochemical Economic and Technological Research Institute pointed out that aviation kerosene will become the only growth pole in China's future consumption structure of refined oil products. According to Standard&Poor's forecast, China's aviation fuel consumption will increase to 75 million tons by 2040. After the restructuring of the two enterprises, they can leverage various advantages such as integrated refining and chemical production, aviation fuel supply guarantee system, etc., reduce intermediate links, lower supply costs, and provide strong guarantees for energy security in China's aviation industry. ”Liu Xingguo, a special senior researcher at the China Enterprise Confederation, said. At present, the largest international aviation fuel service providers are mainly integrated petrochemical companies, with large production scale, strong infrastructure support capability, complete sales network, and formed an integrated development model of production, supply and marketing. However, the production, sales, and refueling of aviation fuel in China belong to different enterprises, and the overall competitiveness needs to be improved compared to large international aviation fuel service providers. After the restructuring of the two enterprises, complementary advantages will be achieved, which will help the aviation fuel industry to further strengthen, optimize and expand, enhance international competitiveness, and promote the green and low-carbon transformation of the aviation industry. The aviation industry's carbon emissions are the most difficult area to reduce in the transportation sector, and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is recognized as the main emission reduction route. According to data from the International Air Transport Association, the global consumption of SAF is expected to reach 6 million tons by 2025 and 18 million tons by 2030. It is reported that Sinopec is the first enterprise in Asia to independently develop and produce bio aviation coal, and achieve commercial production. China Aviation Fuel plays an important role in the promotion and application of SAF and ecological construction. The restructuring of two major central enterprises is a forward-looking layout to seize the high ground of green aviation development and cultivate new growth poles for the industry in the future. ”Zhu Changming pointed out that the newly restructured state-owned enterprise will combine the technological advantages of Sinopec with the market channel advantages of China Aviation Oil, and is expected to create a SAF industry ecosystem covering the entire chain of raw materials, research and development, production, mixed transportation, and refueling, seizing a trillion dollar green new track. Reorganization, integration, acceleration, optimization of state-owned economic layout and structural adjustment are important tasks in the reform of state-owned assets and enterprises, as well as inherent requirements for strengthening and optimizing state-owned capital and enterprises. During the 14th Five Year Plan period, state-owned enterprises and central enterprises continued to promote the three-year action plan for state-owned enterprise reform and the deepening and upgrading action for reform, vigorously promoted layout optimization and structural adjustment, achieved strategic restructuring of 6 groups of 10 enterprises, established 9 new central enterprises, and carried out a series of professional integration solidly, effectively improving the allocation and operational efficiency of state-owned capital. The Central Economic Work Conference clearly stated in the deployment of the 2026 work that "formulate and implement a plan to further deepen the reform of state-owned assets and enterprises". The Central Enterprise Leaders' Meeting also pointed out that we need to further deepen the reform of state-owned assets and enterprises, and take the lead in optimizing the layout of state-owned economy, improving modern enterprise system, and enhancing the efficiency of state-owned asset supervision. The State owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council stated that it will take the high-quality preparation of the "15th Five Year Plan" as the starting point, and comprehensively optimize the layout of the state-owned economy from a larger scope, deeper level, and wider field. On the one hand, state-owned and state-owned enterprises will continue to deepen the implementation of the Industrial Revitalization and Launch Action, highlight the traction of engineering and scenarios, and continue to focus on key areas such as new energy, new energy vehicles, new materials, aerospace, low altitude economy, quantum technology, 6G, etc; On the other hand, we will deepen and expand the "AI+" initiative, launch a new round of digital transformation actions for central enterprises, and continue to promote technological transformation and large-scale equipment updates. According to the deployment, in the new year, state-owned enterprises will vigorously promote strategic and specialized restructuring and integration, as well as high-quality mergers and acquisitions. Zhu Changming expects that the new round of restructuring and integration of central enterprises will mainly focus on two areas: the upgrading of traditional industries and the reconstruction of foundations, and the construction of strategic emerging industries and future industrial clusters. During the 15th Five Year Plan period, the restructuring and integration of central enterprises will be more focused, with public utilities, equipment manufacturing, healthcare, energy and power being key areas. ”Liu Xingguo said. He emphasized that "physical integration" is only the first step, and future reforms should strive to achieve true "chemical integration" and effectively stimulate synergistic effects. (New Society)