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Sinopec Group, China's largest oil refiner and distributor, welcomes different forms of cooperation with e-commerce companies in its petroleum retailing business which has huge potential, according to a company announcement on Monday.

"Sinopec welcomes both private and social capital to participate in the business of selling petroleum, providing better services for customers," said the company's official Weibo account, saying that the idea of e-commerce companies joining Sinopec's sales unit is "interesting and creative".

Lyu Dapeng, a spokesman for Sinopec, denied a rumor about cooperation between the State-owned oil giant and e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, saying there was no further information to provide at the moment.

He told China Daily that room for cooperation with e-commerce companies is nonetheless huge.

After Sinopec announced in February its plan to open up to 30 percent of its multi-billion-dollar marketing arm to social and private investors, the rumor mill was abuzz regarding possible cooperation with a variety of companies.

Conjecture about Alibaba investing in Sinopec's sales business was so widely spread on Sunday that it prompted Yang Lei, public relations director of Alibaba, to issue a denial.

However, he said there remains a possibility of other forms of cooperation between the two that have yet to be clearly delineated.

Alibaba announced it had decided to hold its long-awaited initial public offerings in the United States.

According to Reuters, the Internet giant is now in discussions with six banks to underwrite the deal.

The company is reportedly expected to raise as much as $15 billion, which will rank it as one of the largest IPOs in the US.

It is not the first time that Sinopec has been connected with e-commerce.