bp and chinese academy of sciences forge partnership for clean energy commercialization
BP and Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) held a ceremony in Shanghai recently (1st August) to celebrate the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), announcing their intent to establish the Clean Energy Commercialization Centre (CECC).
CECC aims to accelerate the development in China of clean coal conversion technologies and the creation of associated value chain investment opportunities through the commercialization of key technologies and coordinated management of large scale demonstration projects which primarily use coal as feedstock for fuel production, chemicals manufacturing and power generation.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Iain Conn, BP Managing Director and Chief Executive, Refining and Marketing said: "Given the increasingly important role China plays in the global economy, China's choice and efforts in promoting new and cleaner energy applications will have a profound impact on both the future of the Chinese economy and the global energy market. I believe the establishment of CECC will play a significant role in facilitating indigenous Chinese innovation capability to meet the environmental and energy challenges faced today by China and the world."
Mr. Jiang Mianheng, Vice President of CAS, indicated at the signing ceremony: "China, today, represents the world's second largest energy consumer, and coal accounts for more than 70% of China's total energy consumption. Therefore, cleaner use of energy resources, coal in particular, is critical for the sustainable development of the Chinese economy. Building upon CAS's expertise and advantaged resources in natural science research, and BP's experience and its international best practices in technology commercialization and project management, this new partnership will bring breakthroughs in the development of conversion and commercialization, which will generate materially significant clean energy investment opportunities, contributing to the development of China's energy industry, its economic growth and environment."
According to the MoU, CAS and BP will join their efforts to make CECC a successful and profitable world class platform which will identify, evaluate, select, develop and commercialize strategic cleaner coal conversion technologies. It will also integrate and consolidate individual technologies from CAS institutes and other People's Republic of China (PRC) research and development organisations and elsewhere, both within and outside the PRC, into commercially viable technological systems and solutions in order to contribute to China's clean energy development and energy security.
The partnership relations between BP and CAS can be traced back to November 2001, when the two parties jointly launched the "Clean Energy, Facing the Future" programme - a 10-year, US$10 million R&D initiative. The partnership in the CECC reinforces BP's commitment to working together with China to address its energy issues and also to contributing to the clean energy solutions to fuel the sustainable development of the Chinese economy.
Note to editors:
• BP is one of the world's largest oil, gas and petrochemical companies with operations in over 100 countries. The company also manufactures and sells photovoltaic panels for solar power generation and is actively looking at other forms of renewable energy. The company's current market capitalisation is over US$200 billion and it employs around 100,000 people worldwide. For more information about BP, please visit www.bp.com.
• BP has been operating in China since the early 1970s and has invested over US$4.2 billion in commercial projects. Its activities in China include the production and importation of natural gas, supply of aviation fuel, import and marketing of LPG, fuels retailing, lubricants blending and sales, petrochemical manufacturing and solar electric facilities. As one of China's largest foreign investors, BP employs over 3,000 staff in China, either directly or through joint ventures. For more information about BP China, please visit www.bp.com.cn.
• In China, BP has long-term partnership programs with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Tsinghua University to understand and develop clean energy technologies to support China's growth and her needs for energy security, environmental improvement and sustainable, competitive energy supply.
• In November 2001, BP established the "Clean Energy: Facing the Future" programme in China with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Tsinghua University to create a partnership within China to address these issues and opportunities. BP is providing US$10 million over a ten-year period to fund research in new clean energy technologies. This programme aims to develop and prove new clean options for China and the rest of the world. The programme includes several projects at CAS's Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics and Shenyang Institute of Metals Research.
• Under the "Clean Energy: Facing the Future" programme, the Tsinghua-BP Clean Energy Research and Education Centre was launched in July 2003. It aims to combine the strengths to create a "world-leading institute for energy strategy study for China". It has attracted a broad range of important players in various aspects of energy, industry and environment to serve on the Advisory Board of the Centre.
