PetroChina Company Limited (NYSE.PTR; 0857.HK; 601857.SH), China's largest listed oil company by capacity, denies wide-spread rumor that its Chairman Jiang Jiemin has been missing since August 15 when the company was bidding for an oversea contract.

The message posted on China's twitter-like microblog Weibo, which has been re-tweed millions of times so for on Tuesday, was originally come from an illegal and “unreliable” website overseas, the Caijing.com reported, citing a source from the China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), PetroChina's parent company.

Caijing learned from another source on good authority that Mr. Jiang has been in hospital for a while, which is not a secret to many insiders. The person did not know what it is but added persuasively it could be seriously illness.

On the other hand, the China News Service reported that Jiang did not get a seriously illness and he will return from treatment only after a course, while the discharge date is not clear.

The last time Mr. Jiang was seen by the public was on July 12, when he made a keynote speech at a meeting of leadership in Chengdu, which was published by Chinese news outlet.

Zhou Jiping, Vice Chairman and President of PetroChina, and Deputy General Manager of CNPC, was in charge of routine work currently.

Mr. Jiang was given the punishment of a warning last year after an oil pipeline caught fire and exploded at Dalian, killing a firefighter and left one worker missing, Caijing said.

Petro A shares drops slightly by 0.34 percent, closing at 8.87 yuan Tuesday.