LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell onThursday reported a 2 percent fall in first quarter profits,easily beating expectations, as lower oil prices and refiningprofits were offset by stronger trading and higher liquefiednatural gas prices.
Net income attributable to shareholders, based on currentcost of supplies (CCS) and excluding identified items, fell to$5.43 billion from a year earlier.
That topped a profit forecast of $4.54 billion, according toa company-provided survey of analysts.(Reporting by Ron Bousso; editing by Jason Neely)