On October 21 local time, ICBC Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. (“ICBC Leasing”) and BP Shipping Limited (“BP Shipping”) signed a leasing agreement in London, involving a total amount of USD869 million and 18 oil tankers. This project is the first business cooperation between ICBC Leasing and British Petroleum Group (BP) and it is also the largest single financing project of BP Shipping in the past 100 years. Mr. Jiang Jianqing, Chairman of ICBC said at the opening ceremony of the project that the signing of the agreement laid a sound foundation for ICBC Leasing to further develop business cooperation with world-renowned oil and gas enterprises and wrote a new chapter for the financial cooperation between China and the UK in shipping.

The economic and trade cooperation between China and the UK has maintained a sound growing momentum in recent years and both sides have reached a consensus to seek breakthroughs in more areas. During President Xi Jinping's visit to the UK, Chinese and UK enterprises concluded a number of heavyweight contracts in nuclear power generation, high-speed railway and finance, and the project of BP Shipping is one of the “flagship projects”. According to the agreement, ICBC Leasing shall provide a package of leasing arrangements for 18 oil tankers in the form of leasing and lease the oil tankers to BP Shipping as the ship owner for a period of ten years and BP Shipping shall pay the rent accordingly. The cooperation reflected the creativity and flexible design and arrangements of both sides. The structure of the transaction fully reflected the flexibility and competitiveness of the leasing structure. ICBC Leasing and BP Shipping has also established a friendly and sustainable partnership during the process.

BP Shipping is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BP Group. Established in 1915, it is one of the most influential crude oil, oil product and LNG transport companies in the world. The fleet under the control of BP Shipping includes 93 vessels with an annual cargo transport volume of 203 million tons in 2013. The leasing project is part of BP Shipping's 2012 fleet revitalization plan. BP Shipping invited prospective financial partners worldwide including ICBC Leasing to attend the competitive bid and ICBC Leasing was selected as the project partner for the flexibility of its proposal and its comprehensive advantages.

According to an official of ICBC Leasing, the company has always adhered to the “Go Global” strategy, actively expanded the shipping and marine financial business in Europe and America, and played an increasingly active role in the global shipping market with competitive leasing products. As at the end of September 2015, ICBC Leasing possessed 318 vessels, the balance of its domestic and overseas shipping and leasing assets stood at RMB44.5 billion, making it a major partner of domestic and overseas shipping companies, shipyards and large cargo owners.