SHELL'S third-quarter performance fell short of BP's, with net income

excluding stock movements up 9% at #523m, making a nine-month total 17%

ahead at #2401m.

Exploration and production earnings dipped a tenth to #1048m for the

nine months as lower average crude prices offset 4% and 6% increases

respectively in crude and gas production, including a notable rise in

North Sea production.

Lower prices were particularly felt in the US, where Shell had losses

of #25m, after an #8m claim settlement. The group says recent crude

price rises, if sustained, will benefit fourth-quarter earnings.

Refining and marketing saw a more-than-threefold increase to #317m in

the third quarter as margins improved on the depressed comparative

levels, when prices failed to keep up with escalating feedstock costs,

and volume picked up.

But in chemicals, product prices remain low on account of the

recession on both sides of the Atlantic and consequent excess capacity,

while feedstock costs have not fallen as fast. Outside the US, naptha

was down 13%, while average bulk petrochemical prices were 17% lower,

with sharper drops for PVC and polystyrene. The division made only #17m

in the third quarter, after losses outside the US, against #116m.