Shell said on Wednesday that earnings excluding identified items came in at between $1.6 billion and $1.9 billion in the three months to end-December, down from $3.3 billion for the same period a year earlier. Its profit for the year on the same basis is expected to have fallen to between $10.4 billion and $10.7 billion, down from $22.6 billion in 2014. Shares in Shell fell more than 4% in early trading, while BG fell by more than 2%. Shell is the first among the largest independent oil companies to disclose financial information for its fourth quarter and full year 2015, releasing preliminary results ahead of a Jan. 27 shareholder vote on its cash and share bid for BG which values its smaller rival at around $51 billion. “The completion of the BG transaction, which we are expecting in a matter of weeks, will mark the start of a […]