Rising prices boost Shell and BP
Shell made profits of $7.8bn (?3.9bn) in the first three months of the year, up from $6.9bn a year ago.
And rival BP saw its profits rise 48% to $6.588bn (?3.31bn), from $4.4bn.
In January, Anglo-Dutch firm Shell reported annual profits of $27.56bn (?13.9bn) for 2007, a record for a UK-listed company.
The quarterly results come as a strike by oil workers at the Grangemouth refinery in Scotland came to an end.
The stoppage had disrupted fuel supplies and halted much of the UK’s North Sea oil production.
Some petrol stations in Scotland and northern England had introduced rationing or raised prices.
Difficult year
Shell chief executive Jeroen van der Veer said he would continue to grow the firm after a “good operating performance”.
Shell shares are listed in the UK and the Netherlands, while the company’s headquarters are in The Hague.
BP’s strong figures come after 12 months of turmoil for the firm, which announced a fall in 2007’s annual profits in February. At the time it also announced that it was to cut 5,000 jobs.
Other low points have included receiving a $50m fine for the 2005 Texas City refinery explosion in which 15 people died.
This was part of a larger $373m fine by the US Department of Justice for committing environmental crimes and fraud, and included a fine for price manipulation.
And in May last year, the company’s boss, Lord Browne, resigned after lying to a court in an attempt to block stories about his private life.
‘Oil scarcity’
Simon Wardell, oil analyst at Global Insight, said the rising price of petrol was “predominantly down to high oil prices”.
“Oil prices are high because of the weak dollar and because reserves are under pressure, the spare capacity margin is narrowing, Opec does not have a great deal more oil to pump,” he said.
“That scarcity is reflected in the high oil prices.”
But he said that oil firms could not sit back and just watch the profits flow in.
“Oil firms have to think about the long-term investment, and what prices might be in the future.”
Source: BBC News
Tags: fuel costs, price rising, profits, shell