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Mon May 12, 2008

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TOKYO, May 09, 2008 (AsiaPulse via COMTEX) -- Sumitomo Corp. (TSE:8053) has announced that it sold its interest in an oil and natural gas field in the Gulf of Mexico to local midsize oil company Tammany Oil & Gas LLC for around 1 billion yen (US$9.62 million) at the end of April.

The Japanese trading house incurred a roughly 13 billion yen loss on the stake, which it had purchased from a U.S. developer in 2005 for about 14 billion yen. However, Sumitomo had almost entirely depreciated its interest in the field by the year ended March 31, so the sale is not expected to affect earnings for this fiscal year.

The property sustained heavy damage from major hurricanes Katrina and Rita in summer 2005, and subsequent drilling failed to yield profitable reserves of oil or natural gas.

As a result of the disposition of this asset, the North Sea oil field between the U.K. and Norway will become the focus of Sumitomo's oil interests.

At just 15,000 barrels a day, Sumitomo has the lowest oil output of Japan's integrated trading companies.

(Nikkei)

(C) 2008 Asia Pulse Pte Ltd

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