LONDON, March 11 (Reuters) - British oil major BP will not renew its near 30-year sponsorship of Tate Britain artgallery, it said on Friday, weeks after posting its worst-everannual loss that has forced it to cut spending.
"We are facing an extremely challenging business environmentand are reducing spending," a spokeswoman said.
"As a result we have reluctantly decided not to renew ourlong-term partnership with Tate Britain."
It did not give a sponsorship figure.
The oil major has been hit hard by a slump in oil prices andsaid it would have to make savings of $7 billion by 2017.
BP has sponsored various exhibitions at the British artgallery, including the BP Spotlights series which recentlydisplayed Tracey Emin's My Bed 1998 installation which won the1999 Turner Prize.
Protests have taken place at the gallery over itspartnership with BP, including a recent partial occupation byclimate change activists.
BP said its decision not to renew the partnership, whichexpires in February 2017, was unrelated to protests. (Reporting by Karolin Schaps; editing by Susan Thomas)