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Jeroen van der Veer, chief executive of Shell, called his own results "satisfactory", given the weakness across the sector. "These are satisfactory results underpinned by Shell's operating performance," he said.

"We continue to rejuvenate our portfolio with sustained investment in new legacy assets and through disposals. I am pleased with the progress during the quarter, with the launch of new refining and liquefied natural gas projects, and further asset sales," he said.

Despite the earnings decline, Shell raised quarterly dividends by 14 per cent to $0.36 a share.

Shell produced 3.14 million barrels of oil equivalent a day in the third quarter, down 4 per cent on a year ago after declining rates from maturing fields.

Higher oil prices failed to prevent a 7 per cent dip in overall earnings from exploration and production to $3.51 billion, reflecting the fall in production, higher exploration costs and lower profits from the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project in Russia, in which Shell halved its stake earlier this year.

The group also sold interests in Austria and Norway during the third quarter as Shell shifted its focus towards new sources of production as part of Mr van der Veer’s plan to rejuvenate the oil major’s portfolio.

After the reserves scandal three years ago, when Shell admitted overstating the proven reserves on its books by 20 per cent, the group has increased its exploration budget substantially and halved the number of countries on its list of prospects.

One of the company's major investment decisions this year has been to expand the Port Arthur oil refinery in Texas. The expansion project will increase the refinery’s crude oil capacity to 600,000 barrels a day, making it the largest refinery in the US and one of the largest in the world.

Shell is also pursuing an aggressive disposal strategy of underperforming assets, which has seen it sell assets worth $7.7 billion in the year to date.

Higher operating costs, as well as lower refining margins at its operations on the US West Coast, led to a steep 24 per cent fall in earnings for the oil products sector to $1.65 billion. Despite the impact of hurricanes on the US Gulf Coast, refinery availability has remained "relatively stable" at 93 per cent, compared to 94 per cent in the same quarter last year.

Meanwhile Shell’s gas and power division was impacted by the planned shutdown of its Bintulu gas-to-liquids plant in Malaysia. Earnings fell 27 per cent to $568 million dollars.

The oil products unit saw earnings fall to $1.6 billion from $2.2 billion following lower refining margins and increased operating costs.

Shell also said it would take a one-off $110 million charge relating to past-service pension liabilities, after restructuring some employees' remuneration.

Capital investment in the third quarter reached $6.8 billion.

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