LONDON, Jul 28 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and other oil giants reported big profit increases on Thursday, as high oil prices masked the impact of lower crude and gas production.

Shell said second-quarter current cost of supply net income rose 77 percent to $8.00 billion, helped by non-cash accounting gains and asset sales.

“Shell reported a solid set of results for 2Q,” analysts at Bernstein said in a research note. “We believe Shell can deliver production growth & improving per barrel profitability.”

The Anglo-Dutch firm’s result excluding one-off items jumped 56 percent, in line with forecasts but ahead of most rivals.

Second-quarter underlying profits, denominated in dollars, rose 39 percent at Norway’s Statoil and 9 percent at Spain’s Repsol <REP.MC, according to Reuters calculations. BP reported a 13 percent rise in profits calculated on the same basis on Tuesday.

However, all the companies reported lower production, reflecting the challenge the Western oil majors see: how to grow while facing investment restrictions in the countries with the richest reserves, such as in the Middle East and Russia.

Shell said oil and gas production fell 2 percent to 3.05 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in the April-June period, due to field sales and a warm second quarter which hit European gas demand.

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reported a big jump in second-quarter net profits helped by new projects which the company said would drive production growth in coming years.

Shell said second-quarter current cost of supply net income rose 77 percent to $8 billion, driven by higher oil prices and helped by non-cash accounting gains and asset sales.

“It’s a good result … production volumes should ramp up in the next quarter,” one dealer said.

Oil and gas production fell 2 percent to 3.05 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, due to field sales and a warm second quarter which hit European gas demand.

Excluding divestments, output rose 2 percent — a sign that the company’s large recent investment in new projects was beginning to show returns.

In the first half of the year, Shell started up three new projects, a Canadian oil sands venture and two gas plants in Qatar, in which it had invested $30 billion.

Excluding one-offs, the underlying result rose 56 percent to $6.55 billion, just below an average forecast of $6.70 billion in a Reuters poll of eight analysts.

LONDON, July 26 (Reuters) – Oil major BP Plc said it had not yet applied for permission to drill its first new Gulf of Mexico oil well since the oil spill, which was staunched a year ago, even as rivals receive dozens of drilling permits.

The London-based company said it hoped to restart drilling by the end of the year, but added it was still working to impose improved drilling procedures before making applications.

“We are making sure we have our standards in place for us to go forward,” Chief Executive Bob Dudley told analysts on a conference call.

Peter Hutton, analyst at RBC Capital Markets, noted on a call between analysts and management: “So far this year, Shell have had 16 (drilling permits approved), Chevron have had 23, BHP have had 15, Exxon has had 11 and BP has had nil”.

BP has received one permit this year but only to plug and abandon a well it had drilled before the spill.

Offshore regulator BOEMRE has said it will not hold BP to a higher standard than rivals, but the company is aware a return to drilling is a sensitive matter.

Head of new projects Bernard Looney said the company would likely start by completing wells which were suspended by the moratorium rather than spudding new wells.

LONDON, July 26 (Reuters) – BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley’s promise of strong long-term growth failed to convince investors concerned about the company’s post oil-spill strategy.

A year after BP, Europe’s second-largest oil company by market capitalisation, staunched the massive leak at its Gulf of Mexico well, investors say Dudley has still not set the company on the road to recovery.

On Tuesday he sought to address that concern, saying deals to secure new reserves this year would help drive performance in 2012 and 2013. But some analysts were unimpressed.

“Other companies have clearly re-defined their strategies over the last 12 to 24 months .. ExxonMobil continues to build its shale gas business in the U.S. and Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is focussed on mega gas projects. But what is BP doing?” Dougie Youngson, oil analyst at Arbuthnot, said in an email to clients.

BP shares were down 2.6 percent at 0920 GMT, the second-biggest faller on the FTSE 100 index of blue-chip stocks. The STOXX Europe 600 Oil and Gas index was down 0.8 percent.

Investors are frustrated at the share price which has failed to recover materially in the past nine months despite some progress in oil spill lawsuits and indications the final cost to the company will be less than many had feared.

Dudley told shareholders: “We are committed to seeing the true value of the business more strongly reflected in our share price”.

LONDON (Reuters) – BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley promised long-term growth after a weak performance for the next few months, in an attempt to ease investors’ frustration at the oil major’s sluggish share price.

BP reported second-quarter replacement cost net income of $5.31 billion on Tuesday, compared with a loss of $16.97 billion in the same period last year that included the cost of tackling its massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The underlying results fell short of analysts’ forecasts and benefited less than rivals are expected to from a 50 percent rise in crude prices from a year ago.

The company said maintenance work in the North Sea and Angola and continued outages in the Gulf of Mexico had weighed on results in the quarter and would continue to impact performance in the second half of the year.

Dudley said deals to secure new reserves this year would help drive performance in 2012 and 2013.

BP investors are frustrated at the share price which has failed to recover materially in the past nine months despite some progress in oil spill lawsuits and indications the final bill will be less than many earlier feared. BP shares were down 2.3 percent at 0724 GMT.

Some investors feel the CEO lacks a clear strategy for recovery.

LONDON, July 26 (Reuters) – BP boss Bob Dudley is under pressure to outline his post-oil spill strategy and revive the share price when he unveils second-quarter earnings on Tuesday.

A year after BP staunched the massive leak at its Gulf of Mexico well, investors say Dudley still has not set the company on the road to recovery and that big plans for emerging markets’ growth have failed to impress.

“Investors feel that the company has slightly lost its way,” said Paul Mumford, fund manager at Cavendish Asset Management.

On Tuesday, BP unveils second-quarter earnings, which will reflect a drop in production after it sold some oil fields to pay for the cost of the U.S. spill.

While a 50 percent jump in crude prices is predicted to boost underlying profits 21 percent to $6 billion, the improvement is likely to look anaemic compared with BP’s rivals.

Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are forecast to report a 50 percent jump in second-quarter underlying net income.

BP reported a $17 billion headline loss for the second quarter of 2010, due to charges related to cleaning up the Gulf.

LONDON, Jul (Reuters) – BP boss Bob Dudley is under pressure to clear up confused strategy and revive the oil giant’s share price when it reports second-quarter earnings next week that will lag well behind its peers.

A year after BP staunched the massive leak at its Gulf of Mexico well, investors say Dudley still has not set the company on the road to recovery and big plans for emerging markets growth have fallen flat.

On Tuesday BP unveils its second-quarter earnings, which will reflect a drop in production after it sold some oil fields to pay for the cost of the U.S. spill.

While a 50 percent jump in crude prices is predicted to boost BP profits 21 percent to $6.0 billion, the improvement is likely to look anemic compared to BP’s rivals. Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are both forecast to report a 50 percent jump in second-quarter net income.

Earlier this year Dudley — who replaced Tony Hayward as chief executive nine months ago — announced an emerging markets growth strategy. It involved a flurry of deals constructed around a centerpiece $16-billion share-swap and multi-billion dollar Arctic exploration deal with Kremlin-controlled Rosneft.

That deal fell apart in the face of opposition from BP’s partners in another Russian venture, TNK-BP. Meanwhile analysts have concluded that the other deals in India, China and Indonesia are mostly not material and offer only tight margins. The deal-making has since dried up.

“Investors feel that the company has slightly lost its way,” Paul Mumford, fund manager at Cavendish Asset Management.

LONDON (Reuters) – Shares in British oil major BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) traded down on Thursday after a spat with partners in its Russian joint venture TNK-BP (TNBP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) flared up again.

BP’s oligarch co-owners in TNK-BP have restarted tribunal proceedings aimed at securing a ruling that BP broke their shareholders’ agreement — a ruling that could make BP liable for billions of dollars in damages — sources close to both sides said.

AAR, the consortium representing the Russian billionaires, is arguing a planned share swap and Arctic exploration venture between BP and Kremlin-controlled Rosneft broke the TNK-BP shareholder agreement which obliges BP to use TNK-BP as its primary vehicle for investment in Russia.

The planned tie-up collapsed in May, in the face of AAR’s opposition.

AAR is now arguing BP’s actions cost TNK-BP $5-10 billion in lost opportunities, by not executing the deal through TNK-BP, and because the collapse poisoned TNK-BP’s relationship with Rosneft, something which could cost it future deals.

The Russian side believes one way out could be for BP to sell AAR its stake in TNK-BP.

“The offer to buy them out is still on the table,” said a source close to the Russian side who said BP had rejected an offer earlier this year, of $25 billion for its half-share in TNK-BP.

LONDON, Jul (Reuters) – Failed attempts to blame outsiders for mistakes, accusations that senior managers deliberately misled the authorities, and an escalating scandal that threatens the company’s very existence.

A year ago it was BP. Today it’s Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

Phone hacking and payments to police by employees at his UK newspaper group lit an explosion of public outrage and political pressure that has scorched his business.

As Murdoch surveys the wreckage the dominant wisdom among commentators is that he and his inner circle need to learn lessons from BP’s disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

“There will come a time when business schools examine their management of the hacking scandal as a textbook exercise in how not to do crisis management,” Alastair Campbell, Prime Minister Tony Blair’s former chief media adviser, said in Friday’s London Evening Standard.

However, some crisis PR experts say the first lesson in disaster management is to learn to ignore these kind of comments.

“Every time a company in crisis makes a major move, 100 percent of the time, the pundits declare it ‘too little, too late’. You can’t do anything right (in the public’s eyes) so you have to go into it knowing that’s not even on the table” said Eric Dezenhall, a Washington-based crisis PR advisor.

ANCHORAGE/LONDON, July 18 (Reuters) – ANCHORAGE/LONDON, July 18 (Reuters) – BP reported yet another pipeline leak at its Alaskan oilfields, frustrating the oil giant’s attempts to rebuild its reputation after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

BP said on Monday that a pipeline at its 30,000 barrel per day Lisburne field, which is currently closed for maintenance, ruptured during testing and spilled a mixture of methanol and oily water onto the tundra.

The London-based company has a long history of oil spills at its Alaskan pipelines – accidents which have hurt its public image in the U.S., where around 40 percent of its assets are based.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation said the spill occurred on Saturday and amounted to 2,100 to 4,200 gallons.

A BP spokesman said the cleanup was under way and the company would determine the cause “in due course”.

Lisburne, which is managed as part of the Greater Prudhoe Bay Unit, has produced no oil since June 18, according to Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission records, suggesting maintenance work requiring a prolonged shutdown.

The spokesman said the field had been undergoing “its annual maintenance”.