Shell posts lowest income in at least 13 years as oil price takes toll

LONDON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell (Xetra: R6C1.DE - news) , Europe's largest oil company, reported its lowest annual income in at least 13 years on Thursday as slumping oil prices hit profits.

Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) , whose shareholders last week approved its takeover of rival BG Group (LSE: BG.L - news) , said 2015 income fell 87 percent year on year to $1.94 billion, in line with analysts' estimates.

Shell's fourth quarter current cost of supplies (CCS) earnings excluding identified items, its preferred way of measuring profits, fell 44 percent 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 percent reduction from their combined spending.

Shell sold $5.5 billion worth of assets in 2015, it said. (Reporting by Karolin Schaps and Ron Bousso; editing by David Clarke (Toronto: CKI.TO - news) )