Mitsui & Co., Ltd. ("Mitsui", Head Office: Tokyo, President and CEO: Tatsuo Yasunaga) is pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement with Shell Offshore Inc., ("Shell"), a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc , to acquire 20% working interest of Shell's Kaikias and Circius 100% owned assets located in four blocks in the Mississippi Canyon in the Gulf of Mexico through Mitsui Oil Exploration Co., Ltd. ("MOECO", a subsidiary of Mitsui in which Mitsui has 74.26% equity interest, Head Office: Tokyo, President and CEO Mitsuo Hidaka).

The four blocks, encompassing 93km2, are located approximately 100 kilometers south-southeast of New Orleans, offshore Louisiana. Production of crude oil and gas would utilize the existing near field infrastructure, presenting opportunities for early commercialization at reduced development costs. The recoverable resources of the entire blocks are estimated to be over 100 million barrels of oil equivalent. In addition, there is further exploration potential within the blocks which may contribute to further build up the reserves and continue production over the long term. Together with Shell, Mitsui will continue to work through MOECO to ensure safe and reliable operations for the exploration and development.

Energy and mineral resources sector continues to be as one of Mitsui's core business areas. Mitsui's upstream energy business aims to achieve a portfolio of high quality low cost reserves and will continue to strengthen the competitiveness of its earnings base.

About Mitsui

Mitsui & Co.'s five principal functions are marketing, financing, logistics, risk management, and IT and process development capabilities. We combine these functions to create and optimize value chains in a wide range of business fields. Maximizing our value-added content, we strive to meet the diverse needs of our customers around the world.

About Royal Dutch Shell plc

Royal Dutch Shell plc is incorporated in England and Wales, has its headquarters in The Hague and is listed on the London, Amsterdam, and New York stock exchanges. Shell companies have operations in more than 70 countries and territories with businesses including oil and gas exploration and production; production and marketing of liquefied natural gas and gas to liquids; manufacturing, marketing and shipping of oil products and chemicals and renewable energy projects.