BP backs out of Tibetan pipeline project
New York (Asia News) - British Petroleum (BP) announced its intention of divesting its stakes in the largest Chinese oil company, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).
The news, released last Jan. 13, was applauded by Tibetans and activists who support the cause for Tibet's independence from China and who waged a campaign against BP's investments in the Chinese oil company. Lhadon Tethong, executive director of Students For a Free Tibet, said he joyously welcomed the news that BP would no longer support China's colonization of Tibet.
BP, together with other European companies like AGIP, since 2000 has participated in the building of a 953 km long pipeline to transport natural gas and oil from Sebei, the Tsaidam basin in Tibet's southern high plain, to Lanzhou in China
In April of the same year, BP contributed to saving CNCP from a serious financial crisis with an investment of 578 million dollars, thereby becoming the main foreign investor in the Chinese company and supporting almost all the project's expenses, amounting to 530 million dollars.
The pipeline's construction raised opposition by the Tibetan government in exile in Dharamsala. It considers the pipeline part of China's strategy to boost its control over Tibet. The project raised doubts even in the rest of the world, in terms of its impact on the environment and because CNPC claims exclusive rights in exploiting Tibet's natural gas and oil resources. (MR)
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