Shell Group now has a fully-owned representative office established in the Sultanate through which it will look after its interests in Oman.

This new office marks a new chapter in the Group's long relationship with the Sultanate. It is seen as an indication of Shell's continuing commitment to the Sultanate and the importance it attributes to its operations in the country.

The office, headed by a country chairman, will look after Shell's interests in the country besides helping to reinforcing its commitment in support of the Omani government's effort in the oil and gas sector.

Shell has a 34 per cent stake in PDO, while in Oman LNG it has 30 per cent. In Shell Oman Marketing Company it holds a 49 per cent stake. It is also a technical adviser to the three companies. The key purpose of setting up the office will therefore be to represent the group's interests in each of these companies.

Shell has been associated with Oman since the 1930s, and has been better known in the country through the Shell Oman Marketing Company, which currently operates 116 retail filling stations. Shell Oman Marketing posted a net profit of 1.3 million Omani rials ($3.4 million) for the three months of this year, an increase of $605,200 compared to the corresponding period of last year, according to the company.

The Group has, for many years, worked very closely with the Omani government in developing the oil and gas industry, and has utilised the most advanced technology in the world to help produce oil and gas from the Sultanate's complex reservoirs.

''Shell is at the forefront of technology development in the oil and gas industry. I am confident that we will continue to improve our ability to find and produce more oil and gas in Oman in the future,'' a Shell official said.

''Some of those reservoirs that are impossible to produce satisfactorily today, we are confident we will succeed in unlocking in the future. If we can continue this record of success, the supply of oil to help underpin the further development of the country will be preserved for many more years,'' he added.

Shell was the first to discover oil in commercial quantities in Yibal, Natih and Fahud between 1962 and 1964 under the old name Petroleum Development (Oman) Ltd.

The newly set up representative office will, according to Shell officials, have no effect upon the operation of existing Shell interests in the Sultanate, which will continue to operate under the same management.