Shell Q1 profits beat forecasts on record oil

By Tom Bergin and Alex Lawler

LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L) beat all forecasts on Tuesday with a 12 percent rise in first-quarter current cost of supply (CCS) net income, helped by record oil prices which broke $100 a barrel in the period.

Excluding non-operating items, which amounted to a net charge of $77 million, the CCS result, which strips out the impact of changes in the value of fuel inventories, was $7.85 billion.

A Reuters poll of 11 analysts gave an average forecast of $6.84 billion for Shell's first quarter CCS earnings, excluding non-operating items. The highest forecast was $6.99 billion.

"They look like blow-away numbers. Surprising across all divisions at this time," said Jason Kenney, analyst at ING. "I can't see anything in particular that is unusual, they've just done well."

Shell and other oil companies are benefiting from surging oil prices, which topped $100 a barrel in January and have since climbed towards $120. Earnings at Shell's rival BP Plc (BP.L) also beat forecasts.

The Hague-based Shell delivered a surprise for investors with a small boost in output.

It said production averaged 3.52 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in the first three months of the year, compared with 3.51 million boepd in the same period last year.

Analysts had predicted output would fall to 3.40 million boepd.