Royal Dutch Shell has announced its earnings for the first quarter of 2011 were $6.9billion, up $2billion on last year for the same period. The rise was put down to higher industry margins and its own operating performance.

The oil and gas firm said cost cutting measures and selling on assets – such as $3.2 billion of non-core positions – are helping it to stay competitive. It expects two of its new projects in the Netherlands and Qatar to add 90 thousand boe/d (barrels of oil per day) to its production rate. These fall into Shell’s plan for 20 new Upstream start-ups for 2011-14.

Peter Voser, Royal Dutch Shell’s CEO said: “We continue to make good progress in implementing our strategy; improving near-term performance, delivering a new wave of production growth, and maturing the next generation of growth options for shareholders.”