July 22 (Reuters) - Shell and other leading

energy groups have abandoned a six-year-long attempt to define a

net zero emissions strategy after being told that such a

standard would require them to stop developing new oil and gas

fields, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

Shell, Norway's Aker BP ( AKRBF ) and Canada's Enbridge ( ENB )

have all quit the expert advisory group of

Science-Based Targets initiative since late last year, the FT

said.

The Science-Based Targets initiative is a leading

assessor of company climate goals. In March, the body had

proposed new rules to better help companies set high-quality

emissions-reduction plans.

The companies quit the initiative as draft standards seen by

the FT stated that the companies should not develop "new oil and

gas fields" once they submitted a climate plan, or from the end

of 2027, whichever was sooner.

The initiative has now "paused" work on the oil and gas

standard citing "capacity considerations", but denied this was

linked to the oil and gas industry departures, saying there was

"no basis in reality for these claims," the FT said.

Shell told the FT that its expert had withdrawn after seeing

a draft standard that "did not reflect the industry view in any

substantive way," while Aker BP ( AKRBF ) told the newspaper it had left

the advisory panel after finding its "ability to influence" the

standard "limited."

Shell, Enbridge ( ENB ) and the Science-Based Targets initiative did

not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment, while

Aker BP ( AKRBF ) could not be immediately reached.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.