Associated Press: 04.27.10, 07:12 AM EDT 
AMSTERDAM — Royal Dutch Shell PLC reports first quarter earnings before markets open Wednesday.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Shell’s earnings are likely to rebound strongly in line with a near doubling of oil prices since the first quarter of 2009.
However, as gas prices have lagged oil and around half of Shell’s production is gas rather than oil, it won’t benefit quite as much from oil’s rise from $41 a year ago to $79 in the first quarter of 2010 as other major intergrated oil companies.
Shell’s refining margins are expected to be weak, in line with others in the industry.
Shell has said it is reviewing 15 percent of refining activities and 35 percent of its retail outlets for a potential sale, notably operations in 21 African countries including Nigeria.
In addition to cutting personnel costs, Shell has been investing heavily in new capacity to reverse a decade-long slide in production. Most analysts are upbeat about future prospects, but it may underperform peers until production comes on line. Shell has frozen its quarterly dividend at the 2009 level of $0.42 per share for 2010 to protect its balance sheet.
“Although the first quarter results will show some of the benefits from streamlining the organization, improved production volumes” won’t happen until 2011 or 2012, said analyst Tony Shepard of Charles Stanley, who rates shares a Hold.
WHY IT MATTERS: Shell rivals BP ( BP – news – people ) as Europe’s largest oil company, and only ExxonMobil ( XOM – news – people ), which presents earnings Thursday, is larger.
WHAT’S EXPECTED: Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect Shell to report a net profit of $3.99 billion.
LAST YEAR’S QUARTER: Shell reported net profit of $3.49 billion.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
