Niger Delta unrest dampens Shell Royal Dutch Shell saw first quarter profits climb by 12%, boosted by higher oil and gas prices.
But profits were tempered by lower oil production in Nigeria due to unrest in the Delta region, and in the Gulf of Mexico, following Hurricane Katrina.

The firm's current cost of supply net income - a figure that discounts fluctuations in the market - hit $6.08bn (£3.30bn; £4.8bn euros).

China is set to be one of Shell's most important areas of expansion.

Shell and China's CNOOC have launched a $4.3bn joint venture at the Nanhai petrochemicals complex in Guandong, which Shell says is the largest single foreign investment in China.

External factors

Meanwhile, despite oil prices rising recently to around $75 a barrel, external factors reduced the firm's crude oil production.

Production in Nigeria has been reduced by 455,000 barrels a day, while the Mars platform in the Gulf of Mexico is still not producing oil following damage during Hurricane Katrina.

It is expected to come back in production in May 2006, and reach the same levels that were seen before Hurricane Katrina.

Ignoring oil price fluctuations, profits at Shell rose to $6.9bn.

Analysts generally commented positively on the latest figures.

Richard Hunter, with Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers said: "There can be little doubt that these are a robust set of numbers, even though Shell has had to face ongoing disruption from the aftermath of last year's hurricanes and, latterly, the Nigerian situation."

Shell's chief executive, Jeroen van de Veer, announced an updated strategy for the firm.

"We are committed to increase our production to 3.8 million to 4 million barrels of oil equivalent [which includes gas] by 2009," he said.

He added that Shell was committed to developing unconventional hydrocarbon sources such as oil sands and gas-to-liquid.