Two of the world’s largest oil companies,...

Two of the world’s largest oil companies, Royal Dutch-Shell Group and British Petroleum Plc, both London-based, reported that first-quarter earnings were hit by a squeeze in refining margins. Royal Shell, second only to Exxon Corp. among the world’s oil companies, said profit fell 54% when calculated in the LIFO method, but when translated into dollars from pounds, actually recorded an increase because of the fall in the value of the dollar against the pound in the past year. British Petroleum, the third-largest oil company, said although first-quarter profit fell, on a historical cost net profit basis, or the FIFO method, earnings rose.