BP announced their aim to support the Cultural Olympiad - a year long programme of events which will reach across the whole of the UK - at a glittering ceremony held this morning at the British Museum attended by Tony Hayward, the company's chief executive, and Sebastian Coe, the chairman of London 2012.

 

Coe said: "BP has a well established track record supporting the expertise and passion of our creative and cultural industries, and I hope that we will be able to draw upon this for our four-year cultural programme, which aims to inextricably link sport, culture, community and education."

 

Hayward said: "The Olympic movement is founded on a belief in human endeavour and high performance, attributes which are at the heart of BP's own agenda.

 

"As the UK's largest company with headquarters in London we want to support this momentous event which will also provide a unique opportunity to engage with our own large UK and global workforce, the millions of customers we serve each day and our existing partners in the arts, education and cultural arena.

 

"Between now and 2012 we will be increasingly targeting our marketing and social engagement activities to reflect the building excitement around the Cultural Olympiad and the Olympic and Paralympic Games."

 

BP will become the third sustainability partner of London 2012, alongside EDF Energy and BT, and won the rights after what Coe described as "long drawn-out process that was incredibly competitive" also believed to involve its main rival, Shell.

 

Coe admitted that BP, formerly British Petroleum, led the list of companies that London 2012 had hoped to sign up as a top-tier sponsor when the Capital was awarded the Games three years ago.

 

The company made a profit of £8.76 billion last year and is expected to post even better figures for 2008.

 

Coe defended the decision to make the announcement of the deal at a time when there are increasing complaints in Britain about the price of petrol.

 

More than 500 hauliers had travelled into London yesterday to protest to the Government about the high prices which they claiming are crippling their industry.

 

Coe told insidethegames: "This is a world-class company that we have been working with for well over a year in a really competitive sector.

 

"This is a company that got a pre-eminent record in sustainability and, by any international assessment, scored incredibly highly on all factors.

 

"I am delighted."

 

Coe hailed the signing of a seventh sponsor to join Lloyds TSB, EDF Energy, Adidas, British Airways, BT and tier-two partner Deloitte as a sign that London is further advanced at this stage of its organisation of the Games than any other Olympics in history.

 

London has set itself a target of raising at least £750 million in sponsorship.

 

Coe said: "When you are pretty much reliant on everything you raise coming from the private sector of course you want these guys to come on board and put down a big chunk of financial support to help you stage it.

 

"This is a magnificent message we are sending.

 

"This is a Host City that is going into a preceding Olympic Games with six tier-one sponsorships, a tier two sponsor, something no other city has done before.

 

"This is a really strong message we are getting out to the business community that this is a project that they cannot do without."