Two industry sources familiar with the hiring said that a former Sinopec trading executive has joined Singapore commodities firm Sino Crown International to help build and lead its crude oil trading.

Simon Chen or Chen Bo who was the president of 'Sinopec Unipec trading vehicle until late 2018 joined 'the Singapore firm' in November, according to two people.

Chen did not respond immediately to a comment request.

Sino 'Crown' is a division of Zheshang Development Group, a commodities company based in east China controlled by the state-run Zhejiang Communication Investment Group.

One source who is familiar with the company's operations said that it trades metals, fuel oil and is expanding its crude oil trading.

Chen, an early 60s career crude oil trader, joined Unipec early in the 1990s and became its president in 2014.

Sinopec reported that he was suspended at the end of 2018 after "unacceptable trading strategies" were blamed by Sinopec for record losses in derivatives trading. Reporting by Chen Aizhu, Editing by Jan Harvey

(source: Reuters)