Royal Dutch Shell posted a 75 percent fall in fourth quarter profits to $1.18 billion, as it was punished for its strong positions in the ailing natural gas and refining businesses.

Excluding one-off items, which amounted to a charge of $1.6 billion, the result was $2.77 billion, short of an average forecast of $2.87 billion from a Reuters poll of 10 analysts.

Fourth quarter oil and gas production fell to 3.3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day from 3.4 million boepd a year earlier.