Azerbaijan, Baku, May 30 / Trend A.Badalova /
Royal Dutch Shell continues to view Libya as an important country in its portfolio, in spite of the company's decision to pull out of fields in the country, International Oil Daily reported with the reference to Shell's spokesman.
This week Shell announced that it intends to suspend and abandon drilled wells and stop exploration in its Libyan gas exploration licenses LNGDA and Area 89.
According to the company's spokesman, the decision was made due to disappointing results.
He added that in spite of the fact that security considerations and the safety of its staff are major concerns for Shell the decision was made purely on the basis of exploration results.
"Despite an extensive seismic and drilling campaign in these licenses, results have been disappointing and further exploration cannot be economically justified," he said.
However, according to the Shell's spokesman, the company will maintain a representative office in the country to pursue upstream business opportunities with the Libyan National Oil Company (NOC).
Libya ranks eighth in terms of oil production among 12 member countries of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and third in Africa after Nigeria and Angola. The main importer of Libyan oil is Italy, followed by Germany, France and Spain.
Libya's proven oil reserves are 45 billion barrels. Libya extracted 1.6 million barrels of oil per day before the revolution.