Royal Dutch Shell’s profits rose 15.9 percent in the first quarter of 2012, netting $7.3 billion. Shell’s CEO Peter Voser attributed the increase in part to “strong oil prices,” which rose to over $100 a barrel this quarter.
In 2011, Shell’s profits soared 54 percent to $3.5 million every hour, despite producing 3 percent less oil. This time, it produced 4 percent more than Q1 in 2011.
A few facts about Shell:
Shell posted $7.3 billion in profits for quarter one, or $80.2 million per day.
It is the second-largest lobbyist in oil and gas, lobbying $14.6 million in 2011. This is up from 10 million in 2009 and 2010.
Shell reported 63 operational oil spills in 2011, double the number from 2010. This is due to a spill in Nigeria, which Amnesty International alleges is 60 times worse than Shell originally claimed.
Shell has more than $10 billion in cash reserves as of January 2012.
Shell CEO Peter Voser’s compensation more than doubled in 2011 to $15.3 million. His salary increased (in euros) by 113 percent. Even though oil production dropped 3 percent.
The company plans to drill in the Arctic Ocean, spending more than $4 billion over five years in “its quest to exploit the vast oil and natural gas resources believed to lie beneath the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas off the north coast of Alaska,” according to the New York Times.
Chevron is the fourth Big Oil company to announce its profits tomorrow.
Related Story: