China Trade Visit: BP and Shell Set for Billion Pound LNG Deals

Chinese premier Li Keqiang visits UK. David Cameron is likely to say the UK is China’s top trading partner in Europe, and has netted more Chinese investment in the last 18 months than the previous thirty years. Photograph: Nick Ansell/PA
BP has announced a long-term deal to supply liquefied natural gas to China worth around $20bn (£11.8bn), in one of a number of trade deals announced during the visit of the Chinese prime minister.

The London Stock Exchange also signed agreements with the Bank of China and the Agricultural Bank of China to strengthen the Chinese renminbi offshore market in the UK and to provide access to cash for Chinese companies.

At the end of last year, the prime minister led a delegation of 100 business executives to China, although Chinese state media dismissed the UK as "an old European country" and criticised policy on Hong Kong and the Dalai Lama. Since then, London-based Silvergate Media has signed a deal with state TV to broadcast Peter Rabbit; luxury furniture maker Duresta Upholstery has announced it will open three shops in China with more than 20 planned in 2015; and London-software company TestPlant has opened an office in China.

On Tuesday, China Minsheng Investment Corporation, a newly created private sector investment group, is expected to open its European headquarters in London, with $1.5bn (£883m) to invest in financial services, offshore projects, energy and environment.

(theguardian.com Edited by Topco)