Record profits for Shell

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has announced record annual profits of $27.6 billion (£13.9 billion) for last year, however, fourth-quarter profit missed forecasts as a decline in production reduced the benefit of high oil.

In addition, the company reported higher-than-expected capital spending for 2007 and increased its budget for future years considerably, reflecting the rising cost of getting oil and gas out of the ground.

The Anglo-Dutch oil firm also announced that its current cost of supply net income, which does not include changes in the value of fuel inventories, increased 11% to $6.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007.

A spokesman for Shell said its refining division had performed worse than analysts had forecasted.

However, analysts have expressed concern that Shell has delayed publishing figures showing its oil reserves. The oil reserves figure, which shows whether Shell discovered enough oil in the ground to replace the amount it was taking out, will not be announced until the spring.

An oil analyst from Redmayne Bentley said the market has taken this to suggest that the figures aren’t going to be that good, if they were, Shell would be announcing them now.

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