China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the country’s largest oil and gas producer, has instructed its subsidiaries to pull out of existing real estate projects and avoid future involvement in the sector, China Business News reported Wednesday.

CNPC's move is in line with a recent order from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) requiring 78 centrally-administered SOEs whose core business is not property development to quit the real estate market.

Last year, a CCTV report that CNPC had purchased eight apartment blocks in downtown Beijing at less than half the market price triggered widespread public anger.

According to China Business News, CNPC issued a circular on March 29 asking all subsidiaries to withdraw from profit-oriented real estate development.

The oil giant's property development assets are mainly held by subsidiary China Huayou (Group) Corporation. Huayou had set itself a three-to-five-year target of owning 100 hotels, managing one million square meters of property and developing one million square meters of land.