While the numbers have yet to released, the experts are predicting that the British giant could make around US$355 million in profit from the sales of the shares. It paid around US$385 million for the Sinopec shares in October 2000 and is selling off the 1.8 billion shares at a price of around US$0.41 per share.

As with BP's sale of its PetroChina stakes, the president of BP China, Gary Dirks, was quick to assure investors that the company remains committed to China and that it will still be investing around US$3 billion in the country over the next five years.

"The equity investment BP made in Sinopec has been very successful and BP believes now is an appropriate time to sell the shares," explained Dirks.

Despite such assurances, speculation still remains that Sinopec's two other foreign investors - ExxonMobil (3.65%) and Royal Dutch/Shell (2.27%) - might do a BP and cash in their holdings. Sinopec was quick in saying that such a thing will not happen.

According to Sinopec spokesperson Chen Ge, "[Sinopec has] been told by both Exxon and Shell that neither had plans to unload their stakes."