The oil multinational Royal Dutch/Shell Group intends to close its offices in Turkmenistan because the company sees no prospects for taking part in realistic oil-and-gas projects in the country. Reportedly, the staff in the Ashgabat office has already been reduced to two people. Royal Dutch/Shell Group had been interested in taking part in building the Trans-Afghan gas pipeline, but the company has decided the project is \"too risky,\" a staff member was quoted as saying. Shell has been working with the Turkmen government on locating and developing the country\'s oil-and-gas resources, and headed a consortium to build a pipeline from Turkmenistan to Turkey via Iran. The United States rejected that project, and the trans-Caspian pipeline in which Royal Dutch/Shell Group would have been a participant was never started, at least partly because of Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov\'s demand for a down payment of $1 billion for permission for the project to begin. AFP quoted an official in Shell\'s Ashgabat office as saying the company would be closing down in Turkmenistan. ExxonMobil closed down its operations in the country in 2001, citing limited prospects for future projects. (RFE/RL)