Reply #6: Shell Profit Unexpectedly Rises as Production Climbs

[ozymandius]

Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's biggest oil company, posted an unexpected increase in fourth-quarter profit as production rose, sending the shares to their biggest gain in more than eight months.

Net income climbed 21 percent to $5.28 billion from $4.37 billion in the year-earlier period, Shell, based in The Hague, said today. Profit excluding one-time items and changes in inventory values was $5.5 billion, beating analyst estimates.

Chief Executive Officer Jeroen van der Veer boosted output from the Mars platform in the Gulf of Mexico, which had been flattened by hurricanes in 2005, and increased pumping at fields offshore Nigeria. Shell added to reserves for the first time in four years, after telling investors in 2004 that it had overstated the size of its oil and gas fields.

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The company made oil and gas discoveries at 13 of its 28 biggest exploration prospects last year, Van der Veer said during a press conference in The Hague, adding that much of the company's production growth this decade will come from oil sands and liquefied natural gas projects.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=aHWX.ZahdIDw&refer=uk