Royal Dutch Shell Group .com
TimesOnline: Chinese deals worth £1.5bn
announced
May
10, 2004
Posted
11 May 04
Four British companies will tomorrow announce joint ventures in China worth
more than £1.5 billion, according to Government officials.
The announcements will coincide with a three-day visit to the UK by Wen Jiabao,
the Chinese Prime Minister.
Representatives of BP, Shell, Kingfisher and its B&Q unit will join the Trade
and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt and Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai
at the contract signing ceremony in London.
The deals include a retail petrol stations venture in Guandong Province
between BP and PetroChina and a similar arrangement in Zhejiang Province
between BP and Sinopec.
BP is also involved with Sinopec in the Nanjing Acetic Acid Plant project
while Shell is teaming up with the Chinese firm on petrol stations project in
Jiangsu Province.
BP and Fu Hua Group will sign phase II of the Zhu Hai Purified Teraphthalic
Acid project.
Kingfisher, B&Q and Midea Group will sign a deal on a "strategic sourcing
framework".
But in a sign that Mr Wen's visit could be used by protesters to criticise
China's human rights record, the Foreign Office minister with responsibility
for China, Bill Rammell, insisted that economic considerations would not stop
Britain from voicing worries on the issue.