Royal Dutch Shell beat forecasts to report a 14 per cent rise in net profit today despite lower oil prices and falling production.
Shell said in a statement its current cost of supply net profit, which strips out changes in the value of inventories, was $6.932 billion. Excluding non-operating items, which amounted to a net gain of $371 million, the result was $6.56 billion.
Analysts had been expecting an average forecast of $5.57 billion for Shell's first-quarter current cost of supply net income, excluding non-operating items, down from $5.98 billion in the same period last year.
Shell said first-quarter production of oil and gas was 3.51 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, 6.3 per cent lower than the same period a year ago and slightly below expectations.
The company said a drop in demand for gas in North West Europe, due to a mild winter, was largely to blame.