SHELL PROFITS ROCKET: Royal Dutch/Shell has joined its oil industry rivals in reporting record first quarter profits.
The world's second largest oil company said net profit adjusted to reflect the current cost of supply and other one-off items soared 96% year-on-year to £2.46bn.
The result was above a range of analysts' expectations and the biggest profit Shell has ever turned in.
Earlier this week, world oil numbers one and three - Exxon Mobil and BP - each delivered record first quarter earnings.
Oil strife
Exxon's more than tripled from a year ago while BP's were up 132%.
War in Iraq and civil unrest in Nigeria threatened supplies of crude oil and took the average price of crude to a 12 year high.
Some of Shell's production was shut in in Nigeria but the effect of the oil price outweighed this.
Strikes in another oil producing nation, Venezuela, helped the crude price too and shut in fuel exports to the US, sending the price of gasoline and other products soaring.
Rosy picture
Strong US natural gas prices completed the rosy picture for the industry, producing some of the biggest quarterly corporate earnings hauls in history.
The results were made all the more striking by tumbling earnings across other industries as economies slow around the world.
Shell also produced 6% growth in oil and gas production in the quarter from a year earlier to 4.2m barrels a day.
Last Updated: 11:02 UK, Friday May 02, 2003