LONDON: Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday said profit after tax more than doubled in 2016, helped by a recovery for oil prices in the fourth quarter.
Net profit for the full year came in at $4.58 billion (4.23 billion euros) compared with $1.94 billion for 2015, the Anglo-Dutch energy giant said in an earnings statement.
The earnings take into account also the integration of smaller British rival BG Group, which Shell acquired one year ago in a mega takeover.
Shell's profit adjusted for exceptional items and the changing value of oil and gas inventories however fell eight percent to $3.53 billion in 2016.
Shell last year bought BG in a deal worth around $68 billion at the time in order to strengthen the Anglo-Dutch group's position in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) market.
But Shell on Thursday noted that in the fourth quarter of last year, "the impact of higher oil prices was more than offset by the decline in LNG prices".
Oil prices have rebounded sharply in recent months to back above $50 thanks to a deal by OPEC and non-cartel members to limit output.
Prior to the agreement, crude markets slumped over a period of around two years on a global supply glut, hitting 13-year lows under $30 a barrel at the start of 2016.
To offset that slump in oil prices and following its huge outlay to acquire BG, Shell decided to embark on a cost-cutting programme that will see it eventually offload $30 billion of assets.
The latest divestment was announced Tuesday, when Shell said it had sold North Sea and Thai energy assets for $4.7 billion in a bid also to reduce debt.
"We are gaining momentum... and we are on track to complete our overall $30 billion divestment programme as planned," Royal Dutch Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden said in Thursday's statement.
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