Activists take aim at BP over PetroChina holding

["Nadia & Giovanni" <nadia.joe@tiscalinet.it>]

Activists take aim at BP over PetroChina holding

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News Article by AFP posted on February 16, 2001 at 03:57:02: EST (-5 GMT)

Activists take aim at BP over PetroChina holding

WASHINGTON, Feb 15 (AFP)-- US-based activists took aim at giant BP Amoco on
Thursday,
demanding it divest holdings in China's largest oil company which is accused
of profiting
from human rights abuses in Tibet and Sudan.

Pro-Tibet lobbyists and groups which promote ethical investing will file a
shareholders resolution at BP's annual general meeting in April, calling on
the firm
to dispense with its 2.2 percent stake in PetroChina.

On a worldwide day of protest, campaigners in Washington claimed BP had
sullied its
reputation as a careful and socially conscious firm through its association
with
PetroChina.

"The directors of BP cannot pretend to be ignorant of the genocide ... that
their
Chinese business partners and the Chinese government are engaged in both in
Tibet
and the Sudan," said Kevin Kearns, President of the United States Business
and
Industry Council.

"Profits earned at the expense of the human suffering of the people of Tibet
and the
people of southern Sudan are blood money."

PetroChina, which held an initial public offering in the United States last
year,
is a subsidiary of the state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation.

Critics accuse the company of operating in areas in Sudan where rights group
say
civilians have been killed, bombed and ejected from their homes to permit
oil
production and the building of pipelines.

PetroChina also plans to build a pipeline through eastern Tibet, which
campaigners
claim will be used to rape the resources of a region China is accused of
oppressing
over its demands for autonomy from Beijing.

Simon Billenness, of Trillium Asset Management, a firm which invests in
companies
operating on sound social and environmental principles, urged BP to divest
its stake
in PetroChina.

If BP fails to do so, Trillium would consider withdrawing its substantial
holding in
the company, he said.

Pro-Tibet activists on Thursday planned demonstrations in 20 cities around
the world
including Toronto, London, Miami, Denver, New Delhi, Paris, and Beijing
targeting
BP's offices.

Five students entered the firm's New York premises and refused to leave
until
the BP divests in PetroChina, campaigners said.

BP representatives in New York declined to answer calls on the case on
Thursday. The
company has said in the past that it is not directly invested in the
controversial
projects.