Feb 23 (Reuters) - Oil and gas producer APA Corp on Thursday said it planned to drop a drilling rig in the North Sea as recent increases to tax rates have made its operations there less competitive.

"Longer-term incremental dollars that we have alternatives to put in other places, you're going to see us make that decision just because there's more attractive places to put that," Chief Executive Officer John Christmann told investors on Thursday. (Reporting by Liz Hampton in Denver)