Royal Dutch Shell, Europe's largest oil company, reported its lowest annual income in at least 13 years on Thursday as slumping oil prices hit profits.

Shell, whose shareholders last week approved its takeover of rival BG Group, said 2015 income fell 87 per cent year-on-year to $1.94 billion, in line with analysts' estimates.

The group’s fourth quarter current cost of supplies (CCS)earnings excluding identified items, its preferred way of measuring profits, fell 44 per cent to $1.83 billion.

Shell’s full-year capital spending, or capex, came in at $28.9 billion, $8.4 billion lower than in 2014. Capex for the combined Shell-BG group was expected to reach $33 billion in 2016, a 45 per cent reduction from their combined spending.

The company said it sold $5.5 billion worth of assets in 2015.

Reuters