Shell benefits from higher oil prices, books $5.31 billion profit in second quarter

Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Europe's largest oil company, says second quarter earnings rose on higher production and higher selling prices for oil, and fewer one-time charges.

Net profit was $5.31 billion, up from $1.74 billion in the same period a year earlier. Shell booked net one-time charges of $979 million in the quarter, down from $2.21 billion in the second quarter of 2013.

The Anglo-Dutch company produced 3.08 million barrels of oil and equivalents per day, only a fractional increase. But Shell said production of oil, which is more lucrative, was up 3 percent while natural gas production fell 8 percent.

The company said oil production has increased in Iraq and the Gulf of Mexico, offsetting declines at aging fields.