Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Thursday that second-quarter net profits rose 33 percent to a record $11.6 billion, up 33 percent from the same period a year ago, thanks to high oil prices and the weak dollar.

The year ago figure was $8.67 billion.

The company said its selling price per barrel of oil was around $112, up from $64 a year earlier. That pushed earnings at its main exploration and production arm up 90 percent to $5.88 billion, despite a 1.1 percent fall in production to 3.05 million barrels of oil and equivalents per day.

Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer called the results “competitive” in a statement Thursday.

A “good operating performance, combined with increased oil and gas prices, offset the impact of weaker” refining margins, he said.

Refining profits rose 16 percent to $4.54 billion.

However, the company noted at the current cost of supplies _ which strips out the impact of oil prices _ refining earnings would have fallen by 63 percent to $1.08 billion, mostly due to weaker margins in the United States.

The company’s net sales were $131 billion in the quarter, up from $84.9 billion.

The strong results had been widely expected and shares rose 1.2 percent to euro23.63 ($36.77) in early Amsterdam trading.