BP has probably sold its China LPG business to SHV (China) Investment Co, excluding assets at Fuzhou city in Fujian province, a trade source in south China said on 15 August.

This was confirmed by a source with SHV, without offering details. However, a source with BP Guangzhou said the local branch had not been notified by the headquarters yet and the development was not clear. "Things may still be subject to changes," the source added.

BP's LPG assets in China are not large and the sale will not influence the market much, whoever these assets are sold to, said some market sources. These assets are located in Foshan, Jiangmen and Zhongshan cities in Guangdong and Shanghai, if those in Fuzhou are not included.

BP announced on 7 February that it intended to sell its LPG bottle and tank-filling operations, together with its LPG storage terminals, customer lists, operating licences and logistic assets worldwide before the end of next year.