British Petroleum (BP) announced it had signed a series of agreements with China on Friday, including those in clean energy and wind power generation, during British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's visit to China.

Brown and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao attended the signing ceremony.

Under the agreement, BP and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), will study the feasibility of setting up a joint Clean Energy Commercialization Center (CECC) later this year.

The CECC, proposed last year, aims at commercializing clean energy technologies, including coal gratification, coal to liquids, coal to chemicals, carbon capture and storage.

The two sides would use the center as a platform to promote research and development in the near zero emissions clean coal initiative and launch related pilot programs.

In a framework agreement with Beijing Tianrun New Energy Investment Co., the two sides said they would jointly invest in three 49.5 megawatt wind power plants in northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. They also agreed to explore further wind power investment opportunities.

According to a memorandum of understanding, BP and China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) agreed to add a new 650,000 tons capacity acetic acid plant at their joint venture in the southwestern municipality Chongqing.

The new plant is expected to be operational in 2011 when the annual capacity would reach more than one million tons.

London-based BP has invested more than US$4.3 billion in China commercial projects, including natural gas production, fuel and lubricants sales, and petrochemicals manufacturing, since it entered the country in the early 1970s.

(Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2008)