The carnage among the oil supermajors continued today as Shell reported a 62% profit slump in the first quarter, hard on the heels of the 59% dive reported by arch-rival BP.

Profits at Shell in the first three months of the year plunged to $2.9 billion (£2 billion) from $7.8 billion on the back of a more-than-halved oil price, around $42 a barrel versus $90, and Shell's continuing woes in Nigeria, its once-great hope.

Oil and gas production at Shell was flat in the quarter at just under 3.4 million barrels a day against the rising four million barrels a day reported by BP yesterday.

Sales at the petrol pump, said Shell, were down 6%.

Retiring chief executive Jeroen van der Veer highlighted the “ongoing security challenges” in Nigeria as he warned: “First-quarter performance was affected by the weaker global economy with a challenging upstream [production] and downstream [selling] business environment. Industry conditions remain challenging. We are taking a prudent approach to this downturn.”

Shell was once reckoned to be pumping around one million barrels a day in Nigeria. But production onshore has plunged against a backdrop of violence and sabotage from insurgents. Total production is reckoned to have slumped 30% over the past three years.

Shell has increased its quarterly dividend by 5% to 42 US cents.