Shell announces £7.92bn profits

Royal Dutch Shell has announced half-year profits of £7.92 billion, an increase of 8 per cent on a year earlier.

For the period from April to June, profits were up 5 per cent at £3.99 billion, however the figures came in below City expectations for a second quarter figure of around £4.2 billion.

Shell said increased oil and gas prices offset the impact of weaker trading conditions in its downstream refining and marketing business.

As with rival BP, which announced half-year profits of £6.75 billion this week, Shell posted a sharp rise in exploration and production profits to £2.97 billion this time.

Shell said the improvement reflected improved gas production volumes and the benefit of higher prices, with light sweet crude trading at more than $140 dollars a barrel by the end of the period.

Royal Dutch Shell chief executive Jeroen van der Veer said: "This is another set of competitive earnings for Shell shareholders. Good operating performance, combined with increased oil and gas prices, offset the impact of weaker downstream conditions in the second quarter 2008.

"Shell is making substantial, targeted investments to grow the company for shareholders and help ensure that energy markets remain well supplied."

Both sets of figures are certain to infuriate hauliers while millions of motorists also feel pain from rising forecourt prices.

Union leaders have called for a windfall tax on the profits of both BP and fellow major Royal Dutch Shell.

However, the two companies argue they make very little money from their petrol stations. In 2007, Shell paid global taxes of £9.4 billion, of which £485 million went into Treasury coffers.

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