Shell Q3 drops on oil price, charges

World No. 2 oil company Royal Dutch/Shell suffered a 15 percent fall in current cost of supply profits in the third quarter as the impact of lower crude prices and charges outweighed stronger margins in refining.

Shell reported CCS net profit of $6.1 billion, down from $7.2 billion a year ago. Stripping out the charges for weak U.S. gas prices, UK tax changes and other factors, the result was $6.6 billion. Analysts had predicted a result of $6.3 billion.