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Reacting to mounting pressure over its recent investments in China, BP Amoco has announced that it will not directly participate in PetroChina's controversial Tibet gas pipeline. Since becoming the largest foreign shareholder in PetroChina, BP has faced criticism from labor, environmental, religious freedom, national security, and human rights groups. BP Amoco spokesmen confirmed that these concerns were part of the reason that they pulled out of the Tibet pipeline project. BP Amoco spokesmen said that they will not be taking an equity stake in the drilling, transport, or retail of the gas from the Tsaidam Basin on the Northern Tibetan Plateau. Their investment in PetroChina remains substantial however, consisting of two separate joint ventures and 20% of the corporation's public stock. "We're pleased to see that BP Amoco will not be directly participating in the Tibet pipeline," said John Ackerly, President of International Campaign for Tibet, "but we remain concerned that their financial support for PetroChina will facilitate this and other destructive projects." The Sebei to Lanzhou gas pipeline would be the first major western corporate investment in occupied Tibet. Located adjacent to the World Bank's troubled China-Tibet resettlement project, the pipeline originates in Tibet's resource rich Tsaidam Basin. Although no environmental impact study or community consultations are known to have taken place, construction reportedly began on the project in late March and will last until at least October 2001. Industry sources confirm that Houston based Enron Corporation is also involved in construction of the Tibet pipeline. PetroChina, a new public entity of China National Petroleum Company (CNPC), hit the New York Stock Exchange on April 6th at an opening price of $16.44/share, at the low end of the company's predicted range. PetroChina had hoped to raise as much as $10 billion dollars in the sale, but the final April target shriveled to $2.89 billion. The stock is currently trading at $14.56/share. CNPC maintains an 85% controlling interest in PetroChina, giving Beijing de-facto control of all operations and procedures of PetroChina. The early failure of the PetroChina listing has forced Beijing to put on hold plans to list some of China's other large state-owned enterprises, including Sinopec. "By taking a major equity stake in PetroChina, BP has bought into the corporation that has overall responsibility for making the Tibet pipeline happen,² said Lhadon Tethong of Students for a Free Tibet. ³BP remains involved in the pipeline, and we remain concerned." ### |
