€2.3m-an-hour profit for Shell

Royal Dutch Shell announced today that it had banked profits of £1.6m (€2.3m) an hour, which it said was down to a good operational performance and not just soaring oil prices.

The Anglo-Dutch giant said its earnings totalled $6.3bn (€4.9bn) for the three months to June 30, an increase of 36% on a year ago.