London

ROYAL Dutch Shell is to axe 6,500 jobs this year and step up spending cuts to deal with an extended period of lower oil prices which contributed to a 37 per cent drop in the oil and gas group's second-quarter profits.

The Anglo-Dutch company also said that it was planning more asset disposals as it pushes ahead with its proposed US$70 billion acquisition of BG Group, taking total asset sales between 2014 and 2018 to US$50 billion.