** Shares of Shell rise as much as 2.2 pct, secondbiggest gainer on bluechip FTSE 100
** Shell reported on Thursday a small drop in quarterlyprofits which still easily beat forecasts, helped by strongertrading and liquefied natural gas sales
** Shell's Q1 results outshine those of rivals Exxon Mobil,Chevron and BP which all saw sharp drops in profits in the firstthree months of the year as a result of lower refining marginsand weaker crude and gas prices
** Q1 net income attributable to shareholders fell 2 percentto $5.43 bln, topping a profit forecast of $4.54 bln, accordingto a company-provided survey of analysts
** Q1 cash flow from operations (excluding working capitalmovements and a positive impact of $949 mln related to theimplementation of IFRS 16) of $11.3 bln was 10 pct ahead ofJefferies estimate of $10.3 bln(Reporting by Justin George Varghese in Bengaluru)
BP (BP.)