(Yicai Global) July 2 -- BP has appointed Yang Shixu, a veteran of the British energy giant, as president of its China business following the resignation of Yang Xiaoping on June 30 after 30 years of service.

Yang Shixu will also act as senior vice president of regional affairs and urban low-carbon solutions for the BP Group, the London-based company said yesterday.

Yang has been with the oil major since 1998. He served as president of BP Asia’s acetyl business and was responsible for many of the company’s joint ventures in the region. Prior to that he worked for McKinsey China and Unilever.

He is taking over at a particularly difficult time. BP has been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen cratering demand for its main product, and is planning to lay off around 10,000 employees this year, including in China. More details are still to be announced, but the layoffs are expected to mainly target office workers.

Also rocking the China boat is the firm’s recent decision to sell its global chemicals business to the UK’s Ineos, one of the world’s largest chemicals suppliers. The USD5 billion raised will help alleviate the huge financial pressure on BP amid the current downturn of oil prices and demand, BP said.

The sale involves three China-based plants: a Zhuhai facility in southern Guangdong province, one of the world’s largest purified terephthalic acid production bases; a factory in Chongqing, southwestern Sichuan province; and a plant in Nanjing, eastern Zhejiang province.

BP's business in China mainly includes oil and gas exploration and development, petrochemical production and sales, aviation fuel supply, lubricants, oil and gas supply and trading, advanced mobile travel and venture capital business. It is also cooperating overseas with the three major Chinese petrochemical firms.

Editor: Kim Taylor