Royal Dutch Shell announced on January 18 that it had decided to exit from the joint Bab sour gas field project in Abu Dhabi. The two oil and gas majors were in the multi-billion sour gas field project since 2013.

The company said in a statement to the media that it has decided to pull out from the joint development of gas reservoirs with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC), “following a careful and thorough evaluation of technical challenges and costs”.

The UAE’s energy minister however has said that the country was not worried about Shell’s exit from the project. “We are not worried about [the] supply of gas. We are planning well. If the company is pulling out, I’m not worried,” said Suhail Al Mazroui, the UAE’s Minister of Energy, on the sidelines of the World Future Energy Summit in the capital.

A Reuters report states that Shell won a tender valued at the time (in 2013) at $10 billion for a 40 per cent stake in a 30-year venture to develop the complex sour gas field, involving the treatment of potentially deadly gases.