The Anglo-Dutch oil firm Royal Dutch Shell has Czech general Jan Paroulek dies ...
Israeli attack in Gaza kills five ... reported record annual profits for a UK company.
Its profit measured by current cost of supply was $27.56bn (Ј13.9bn) for 2007, beating its own 2006 record of Ј12.9bn.
Much of the rise in profits has been attributed to rising oil prices, which currently stand at about $91 a barrel compared with $57 this time last year.
But there is concern among analysts that Shell has delayed publishing figures showing its oil reserves.
The oil reserves figure, which shows whether Shell found enough oil in the ground to replace the amount it was taking out, will not be published until the spring.
"The market really has taken this to imply that the figures aren't going to be great," said Nick MacGregor, an oil analyst from Redmayne Bentley.
"If they were that good Shell would be telling the world about it now."
'Satisfactory results'
Shell reports its profits figures in dollars because oil is priced in the US currency.
In dollar terms its earnings are up 9% on the previous year.
It has set its dividend at $0.36 per share for the last three months of 2007, which is up 11% on the same period of 2006.
"Overall these are satisfactory results," said Shell's chief executive Jeroen van der Veer.
"We made good progress in 2007, launched new projects upstream and downstream, and achieved exploration successes."
(BBC)
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