Shell quits Thai exploration

Shell quits Thai exploration

BANGKOK (AFP): Oil industry giant Royal Dutch/Shell Group has announced it will pull out of exploration in Thailand and sell its interests in the country's most lucrative oil field, reports said Saturday.

Thai Shell's executive director Martin Bradshaw said the group would sell its stake in the prestige Sirikit oil field responsible for 90 percent of the country's crude production, the Bangkok Post and Nation daily reported.

The company announced in a statement on Friday it would also invite bids from selected companies for its exploration and production business in the country, the reports said.

"Shell wished to concentrate on its substantial refining and marketing businesses in Thailand, and focus its exploration and production activities in areas which more closely match the scale of Shell's international business, " Bradshaw was quoted as saying in the Post.

Shell's announcement follows decisions to pull out of Thailand's exploration and production industry by other oil companies, including Statoil of Norway and British Petroleum.