OREANDA-NEWS.  September 05, 2012. CHINA Rongsheng Heavy Industries Group Holdings Ltd, already suffering from a slump in the shipbuilding market, risks a loss of business in the promising offshore equipment sector after its chairman was implicated in an insider-trading scandal.

CNOOC Ltd, China's biggest offshore gas and oil company and a client of Rongsheng, has indicated that its ties with the nation's biggest private-sector shipbuilder may be affected by a probe being conducted by the United States securities regulator.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission said it is investigating whether Rongsheng Chairman Zhang Zhirong and other traders pocketed millions of dollars illegally from an inside tip ahead of CNOOC's announcement of a takeover bid for US-listed Canadian oil producer Nexen Inc.

CNOOC, acting on a request from the SEC, said it is conducting an internal inquiry into the possible leak of confidential information about the bid. Last week, CNOOC Chairman Wang Yilin vented his spleen at Zhang.