Royal Dutch Shell Q1 Profit Beats Estimates (RDS-A)

Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A), Europe's largest oil company, said its first-quarter profit jumped 22% to $6.9 billion . On adjusted basis, Shell earned $6.29 billion, topping the consensus estimate of $5.87 billion. Shell, which last year reversed seven years of falling production, is planning to spend $100 billion through 2014 to bolster oil output. The company is looking to boost production to 3.7 million barrels of oil equivalent a day by 2014, Bloomberg News reported.Shell's impressive jump in first-quarter profits compares to a 2% drop posted by primary rival BP (NYSE: BP), Europe's second-largest oil company. Eni SpA (NYSE: E) posted a 6% increase in first-quarter profits.Shell said its first-quarter dividend on its U.S.-listed shares will be 42 cents a share, the same as the company paid in the first quarter of 2010. "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," Shell CEO Peter Voser said on the company's Web site.