ROYAL Dutch Shell's finance chief, Simon Henry, has stressed the company's enthusiasm for the West of Shetland area but said it faces tough choices in the Central North Sea off north east Scotland after it unveiled a 31 per cent hike in profits.

The oil and gas giant made $5.8 billion (£3.6bn) profits net of one offs in the third quarter compared with $4.5bn in the same period last year, in spite of the fall in oil prices.

Mr Henry said the forecast-­beating results reflect the benefit of giant new high-margin fields in areas like the Gulf of Mexico, which are typical of the kind of big projects Shell wants to focus on.

Describing Shell as a "project delivery company," Mr Henry included the Clair and Schiehallion fields west of Shetland in a list of bumper developments Shell looks forward to bringing onstream in coming years. Shell is investing billions of pounds west of Shetland with BP and others.

However, Mr Henry indicated the fall in oil prices, from $115 per barrel in June to around $85 currently, will make Shell focus hard on the returns generated by more mature assets. He said every $10 per barrel fall in oil prices wipes $3bn off Shell's annual profits.

Asked how the fall could affect Shell's attitude to the North Sea he said: "in the Central North Sea in particular we have to make what could be tough choices."

Shell has interests in a range of assets in the area. These include the Gannet, Curlew and Shearwater fields which Mr Henry has classed as mature.

In May he said a group of mature UK North Sea assets absorbed around $1bn a year for "very limited growth potential."

Yesterday Mr Henry said Shell will need to assess the value generated by CNS assets compared with the costs of operating and eventually decommissioning them. Some may be more suitable for owners with different business models.

Mr Henry noted the fall in oil prices may make it harder to sell North Sea fields. There is already a range of North Sea assets on the market.

However, he said Shell was making progress towards offloading three relatively small North Sea assets it put on sale in February, including the Anasuria floating production, storage and offloading vessel.

He said Shell was on track to meet its target of raising $15bn from disposals, without selling these assets.

Shell looks to have made progress since it issued a shock warning regarding 2013 profits in January. New chief executive Ben van Beurden said then its performance was not good enough.

Jason Gammel, analyst at Jefferies International, told clients: "Adjusted net income of $5.8bn is six per cent above the consensus and 12 per cent above estimates. Operational earnings were strong across all segments."

On Tuesday BP, a big rival of Shell's, posted a 20 per cent fall in third quarter profits, to $3bn net of one offs, from $3.7bn. BP was hit by problems in Russia which helped wipe $700m off earnings. The company is a significant investor in Russia through its near 20 per cent stake in Rosneft. Shell is less exposed to Russia.

Shell's upstream exploration and production arm increased underlying earnings by 25 per cent annually, to $4.3bn from $3.5bn in the same period last year.

The downsteam arm doubled earnings to $1.8bn from $0.9bn. Refining margins increased in the quarter, helped by the fall in crude prices and some plants being taken offline for routine maintenance.

In September Mr van Beurden welcomed the result of the referendum on Scottish independence, which he said reduces the operating uncertainty for businesses based in Scotland.

Shell announced a third quarter dividend of $0.47 per ordinary share, up four per cent, from $0.45 in the same period last year. Royal Dutch Shell A shares closed down 8p at £22.275.

Shell said American banking and chemicals veteran Charles Holliday will succeed Jorma Ollila of Finland as chairman following its general meeting in 2015. Mr Holliday joined its board in 2010.