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Royal Dutch Shell profits double to $6.98 billion
October 27, 2011

Profit after tax for the year earlier period had stood at $3.46 billion Profit after tax for the year earlier period had stood at $3.46 billion
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Energy giant Royal Dutch Shell said Thursday that net profits doubled to $6.98 billion (4.98 billion euros) between June and September as revenues rose by a third thanks to higher oil prices.

The profit after tax figure for the third quarter compared with net income of $3.46 billion during the equivalent period of 2010, the Anglo-Dutch group said in a statement.

"Our third quarter results were higher than year-ago levels, driven by higher oil prices and Shell's performance," said Royal Dutch Shell chief executive Peter Voser.

"Our profits pay for Shell's substantial investments in new energy projects, to ensure low-cost, reliable energy supplies for our customers and to create value for our shareholders," he added in the company statement.

Group revenue jumped 36 percent to $123.4 billion in the third quarter from a year earlier.

Excluding changes to the value of its energy inventories, Shell said that profit soared to $7.0 billion in the third quarter, beating analysts' consensus forecast of $6.60 billion according to a poll by Dow Jones Newswires.

Shell's oil and gas production fell 2.0 percent to 3.0 million barrels of oil equivalent per day after the company sold non-core assets on the way to raising up to $8.0 billion by the end of 2011.

Net profit meanwhile surged 83 percent to $24.42 billion in the first nine months of 2011 from the equivalent period a year earlier.

That compared with its British rival BP, which on Tuesday posted net profits of $17.7 billion in the first nine months, also on the back of higher oil prices.

BP surged back into profit, declaring that it had now reached a "clear turning point" after the devastating Gulf of Mexico oil disaster in April 2010.

Shell's earnings "update may be the cause of some admiring glances from arch rival BP, currently in the midst of its own transformation," said Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers.

"Shell shares have held up well over the last year, having added 13 percent as compared to a two percent drop for the wider FTSE 100.

"The company's position as the preferred sector play has been consolidated today, and the market consensus of the shares as a strong buy vindicated again," he added.

In London midday deals, Royal Dutch Shell shares were up 1.62 percent at 2,289.5 pence on the FTSE 100, which was up 2.60 percent at 5,697.15 points following an EU deal to tackle the eurozone debt crisis.

AFP