Record profits for Shell

Royal Dutch Shell posted record annual profits of £22bn (€24.2bn) today, despite a slide in earnings over the final three months of the year.

With the economic slump forcing the price of Brent crude down to an average of US$55 a barrel, Shell reported profits of $4.78bn (€3.66bn) for the fourth quarter of 2008, against $10.9bn ($8.35bn) in the third quarter and 28% lower than a year earlier.