Shell chief calls 2010 'challenging' for refining, costs

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, expects the pressure on refining margins and costs to persist next year amid a challenging economic situation.

Shell and competitors such as Exxon Mobil Corp. are cutting costs as they seek to rebuild profits battered by a global recession and reduced energy demand. Shell, whose refining earnings fell 47 percent in the third quarter, is responding by cutting 5,000 jobs, or about 5 percent of its workforce, and reducing operating costs by about $1 billion in the first nine months of the year.

Houston Chronicle