By Ron Bousso
LONDON, April 26 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell onThursday reported a 42 percent rise in profits in the firstquarter of 2018, the highest in over three years, boosted byhigher oil prices and beating analysts' expectations.
Net income attributable to shareholders in the quarter,based on a current cost of supplies (CCS) and excludingidentified items, rose to $5.322 billion from a year ago,compared with a company-provided analysts' consensus of $5.277billion.
A year ago, net income was $3.754 billion.
"Shell's strong earnings this quarter were underpinned byhigher oil and gas prices, the continued growth and very goodperformance of our Integrated Gas business, and improvedprofitability in our Upstream business," Chief Executive OfficerBen van Beurden said in a statement.
Benchmark Brent crude oil price recovered strongly in recentmonths to reach $75 a barrel, the highest since late 2014.Prices averaged around $67 a barrel in the first quarter, nearly25 percent higher than a year ago.
(Reporting by Ron Bousso. Editing by Jane Merriman)
