Shell profit hits UK company record

Royal Dutch Shell Plc posted a record $23 billion profit for 2005, up 30% from the previous year, as higher oil prices and fat refining margins outweighed a sharp fall in production. All the oil majors are expected to report bumper results for 2005 thanks to prices that reached a record above $70 per barrel during the year and to record refining margins.

Shares in the world's third-biggest listed oil company by market value fell, however, as investors focused on its weak performance upstream in finding oil and gas. Investors were also disappointed, because Shell failed to copy Exxon Mobil in beating market forecasts earlier, when the U.S. major posted a record $36 billion annual profit.

Shell replaced just 60 to 70 percent of the oil it pumped with new additions to reserves, measured under Securities and Exchange Commission rules. This is well below the 100 percent rate needed to stop an oil firm's asset base from shrinking. Shell said it continued to target 100 percent replacement over 2004-2008 but analysts are divided on whether Shell has turned around its upstream business after a reserves overbooking scandal in 2004 and massive cost overruns in 2005.

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