Shell Oil hasn’t given any indication how falling oil prices would affect its Arctic drilling program. But the company is pulling the plug on another project that’s just as costly.

Bloomberg reports that the company will not build a $6.5 billion petrochemical plant in the Middle East. The al-Karaana factory was a joint venture with Qatar Petroleum, to turn natural gas into chemical products. Shell would have owned a 20 percent stake.

But in a statement, the company said that the capital costs are too high -- ”particularly in the current economic climate prevailing in the energy industry.”

Besides crude oil, natural gas prices have also been on the decline. They recently hit their lowest point since 2009.