Royal Dutch Shell joined the ever growing band of international oil companies reporting huge declines in profits after they reported a 62% drop in first quarter profits.
The Anglo-Dutch company reported that profits had dropped to US$3.4 billion for the first quarter of 2009 compared to $9.08 billion for the same period last year.
Shell have suffered from the huge drop in oil prices that has occurred over the last nine months. It reported that the average price for a bareel of its oil fell from the $90.72 they enjoyed last year to $42.16 in 2009.
“First quarter 2009 performance was affected by the weaker global economy, with a challenging upstream and downstream business environment,” Shell’s chief executive, Jeroen van der Veer said.
Coincidentally BP also reported a 62% drop in profits, citing the same problem with low oil prices as the reason.
