Shell to cut 6,500 jobs as oil price slump continues

Chief executive Ben van Beurden says group will press ahead with $30bn asset sales and $3bn spending cuts as second quarter profits fall 35%

Shell sees no quick end to the slump in oil prices and plans to accelerate its own cutbacks with 6,500 more job losses, a reduction in annual spending by a further $3bn (1.9bn) and more than $30bn of asset sales by 2018.

But the Anglo-Dutch group has vowed to press on with its expensive and controversial exploration programme in Arctic Alaska, saying it was a "long-term play" that could not be influenced by current energy prices.