BP has agreed to sell one of its biggest investments in China to Sinopec for $1.68bn, as it seeks to raise up to $5.5bn from disposals this year to help pay for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the US, the Financial Times reports. The UK oil major is to sell its 50% stake in the Shanghai Secco Petrochemical company to China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed Sinopec and BP’s partner in the joint venture. The move marks BP’s withdrawal from what was once the biggest part of its petrochemicals business, producing olefins and derivatives, which are used to make plastics. The Secco plant started operations in 2005 after investment by BP and Sinopec, and makes products related to plastics. Xiaoping Yang, president of BP’s China business, insisted the company remained committed to the country, in spite of the Secco sale.