Last checked at 
LONDON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - BP is increasing its Asian
presence with an initial agreement, or memorandum of
understanding, with China's Zhejiang Petroleum and Chemical
Corporation (ZPCC) to build a 1 million tonne a year acetic acid
plant, BP said on Friday.
The planned production site for acetic acid, which is used in
chemical products such as paints and adhesives, would be part of
ZPCC's refining and petrochemical plant in Zhoushan in eastern
China, BP said in a statement.
"The potential new plant...would be BP’s largest acetic acid
producing site in the world. China is the world’s largest acetic
acid market and accounts for more than half of global production
capacity," BP added.
BP plans to sell more U.S. crude to Asia as its shale oil
production grows, seeking to capitalise on growth in the world's
key demand region.
In recent months, the British group deepened its ties with
Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries by forging a
fuel retailing joint venture to capitalise on rising demand in
Asia's third-biggest economy.
BP has also said it would build a network of charging hubs
for electric vehicles with China's Didi Chuxing, betting on the
world's largest market for such cars.
ZPCC is a mixed-ownership joint-venture company with private
holdings and state-owned enterprises, BP said.
A PetroChina unit has won a license to supply marine bunker
fuel in Zhoushan on China's east coast, as the city's free trade
zone looks to challenge Singapore as a regional shipping fuel
hub, according to a company executive and local government
official.
(Reporting by Shadia Nasralla
Editing by Alexander Smith)
