Oil and petrochemical giant BP announced its plan on Tuesday to invest US$3 billion in the coming five years in China.

Without elaborating on the future investment, Gary Dirks, president of BP China, said BP has invested US$4 billion in oil and petrochemical projects in China since it entered Chinese markets in 1973.

BP has been the biggest overseas investor in the petrochemical field in China, the leading importer and supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in China and the only overseas partner in China's joint venture to supply fuel oil to airways.

BP invested in the Yacheng Natural Gas Field Project, which supplies natural gas to Hong Kong and Hainan Province, south China, and a LNG project in south China's Guangdong Province.

The London-based BP was listed by Fortune magazine as number five out of the world's top 500 multinationals in 2003.

(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2004)